The Glass Half Full
by TogepiStars
Summary: Ever wonder what happened to the other trainers that left Pallet the day Ash did? It's time to find out! Join a shy girl, a goofy Charmander, and a serious Cubone as they discover that journeys are not all cotton candy and fun like they're portrayed as.
1. Ch 1 Prelude to A Journey

Okay! First off, thank you for clicking on my fic. - I know that might sound cheap or something but, hey! There might be a few that recognize this story from ThePokeMasters, and they'd be right, 'cause I posted it on there too a long while back. This is, of course, an original trainer fic so:

I don't own Pokemon, or any of the people and monsters from the game. However, the original characters I do have are mine. So don't sue me! (I wonder if anyone who doesn't say this DOES get sued?)

The Glass Half Full

**Ch.1 Prelude to A Journey**

Every legend has a beginning. And every living being has a beginning as well. Life is such a precious thing; and yet it is so easy to change the course of one's life. One moment is enough to change it. One decision, one move, can be detrimental or beneficial depending on the consequence.

It would be nice if all of the decisions of our lives were made by ourselves; however, at the very beginning of your life, your entire well-being is in the hands of your parents…

"_Can you sense them?"_

"_No. I think we are safe for now."_

"_Good…."_

_A sigh of relief was breathed in the darkness around the two. The woman it had come from was bent over, clutching a small baby wrapped in a light red blanket. She looked exhausted, sweaty, and her breathing was raspy. Her hair was slightly dishelved, but in her eyes was the glimmer of hope and happiness that resided in her heart. For if there were any chance of her baby escaping; nothing else would matter to her._

_The other voice had come from a large creature floating soundlessly next to the mother. It was a bird-like shape, and had glowing deep blue eyes. Most of the front of its body was a powdery white color, while the back end of it was a sea green color, though you could hardly tell in the dark. The bird looked over to the mother._

"_Alright, we can move," he said, showing her the way out with his claw-like hand._

_The two began to crawl out of a small hole. They had been hiding in a tiny cave-like den in the ground to escape their pursuers. Dirt brushed all over the two as they emerged into the twilight. Night was almost upon them, and they only had a little ways to go._

"_Here, climb up on me and we can fly the rest of the way. I don't want our daughter to lose her mother to exhaustion…," said the bird._

_The woman slowly climbed onto the bird's back; and with one arm on the bird, and one arm on the baby, breathed a quiet, "Ready…."_

_Together the two flew onward through the early evening's sky. Onward and onward, until a small town was visible on the horizon. The bird-like creature slowly descended onto the front lawn of a small farm. There were a few sleeping cow pokemon like Miltank and Tauros in the fields surrounding them; obviously belonging to the person who owned the farm. A blinding light came suddenly from the bird standing next to the mother, and after a few seconds, the light faded, showing a man standing where the bird once floated._

"_Let's go in," he said, in the same tone as the bird's voice had been._

_They walked up to the door and reached for the knob when suddenly another light shone on them. A helicopter had spotted the two fugitives flying in the area, yet it was unsure of their exact location. They knew that the searchlight would most certainly be accompanied by at least a handful of men and several powerful pokemon. The two parents looked to each other._

"_What can we do!" whispered the woman frightfully._

"_Leave her here. I notified mother in advance, so when she finds her, then she will know what to do," the man said, his head suddenly turning to the helicopter above._

_The mother's eyes were streaming with fresh tears, and yet she knew there was no other way. Gently she placed the baby inside a small shrub on the porch; the location they all had agreed upon. Blowing a kiss to the now hidden baby, she turned to the man._

_Together, they both swiftly ran off into the growing darkness of the night, and when they had reached a safe distance away from the baby and the farm, a blinding light could be seen from a distance. And after it had subsided, two large bird-like creatures took to the air. Their mission; get everyone away from their baby._

* * *

The warm sunlight filtered down through a dusty old window. The light seen coming through it had the appearance of a light rain; there was so much dust inside. A knocking noise suddenly sounded, and a small wooden slab popped up out of the floor.

"Ow…," said a girl's voice. It sounded soft and small; like a scared animal.

The girl blinked as her head rose above the hole she was now emerging from; the combination of dust and sunlight made her sneeze. Apparently she was in an attic. There were boxes and boxes of various sizes and conditions all around her. Covered in both dust and rat pokemon droppings, the boxes sat silently, looking as if they had been there for a thousand years. Spider webs that were no longer in use were hanging from every nook and cranny. Kayla spied a massive one that looked as if it could have been a suitable Ariados house at one time.

"Kayla? Are you okay?" inquired a voice from inside the house. It was a voice of an old woman, and yet it still sounded so vibrant and strong.

"Yes, I'm fine Grama," replied Kayla. She now stepped far into the sunlight in order to peer out of the dirty window and observe the street below. The rays of light shone on her face. It was clear that Kayla was in her early teens; her face still had that childish look to it. Her crimson hair seemed to shimmer in the sunlight, and her deep blue eyes reflected the clear, blue sky she was now looking at.

An old woman now poked her head out of the attic hole.

"Kayla! Hurry up and find those pictures child! It's so cold up here you could catch your death within five minutes!" she said sternly. The wrinkles on her face all contorting into a mixed look of concern and annoyance.

Kayla turned around swiftly, "Oh I'm sorry; I just got carried away with looking at the beautiful sky today. I won't be much longer."

Kayla's grandmother then creeped back down to the house, and Kayla began to search through the boxes. There were so many, and some weren't even marked on the sides. Kayla didn't really understand why her grandmother even wanted her to search for these pictures. She didn't even know what these pictures were supposed to be of. How was she to know which ones were the ones? However, since Kayla always did what she was told, she just kept blindly looking through box after box.

After about ten minutes, and countless boxes, she finally stumbled upon a particularly old box. It was sitting slightly away from the others, and looked especially dirty. The small ray of dusty sunlight shinning on it gave an almost ominous feel to it.

Kayla slowly approached the box, and carefully opened it. Inside were lots of old items. A small sketchbook of some kind; an old notepad; and a golden seal that looked like a huge coin. Kayla picked it up for a moment, feeling the cold metal and looking at the embossed birds on the front. She then went to place it back in the box when she noticed that under the large coin were several packs of pictures!

"Grama! I think I found them!" she called out loudly. She picked up the packs of pictures, and stealing one more glance back at the coin, went down to the house to show her grandmother.

When she had finally arrived in the living room, her grandmother looked up at her and smiled. "So, did you find the pictures?" she asked.

"Yes, here they are. But, why did you need them?" Kayla asked curiously.

"I wanted to show you pictures of your parents," her grandmother said, the tone in her voice no different.

"What? My parents? Butbut why now? I don't…."

The old woman smiled, "I needed to wait until you were older; until you could understand. Now sit down, and I'll tell you everything I know about your parents."

Kayla sat down, confused, and a bit concerned with what she might hear. Her grandmother had mentioned her parents only a few times before.

Once when she was five years old, she had asked her grandmother why she didn't have a mommy and daddy. Her grandmother's answer was always to brush it off somehow, and avoid the subject by telling Kayla that her parents had loved her very much, and that they saved Kayla's life by sacrificing themselves. Kayla never really understood it, and hardly ever thought of it now. What did it matter as long as her life was a happy one?

"Kayla, I don't know everything about your parents' death," said her grandmother truthfully, "I know that they are indeed dead, and that it may or may not have been an accident; but I know for sure that they were fugitives…"

"Fugitives?" repeated Kayla, this was very odd; who would her parents be running from?

"Yes, they were running from someone, but I'm not sure who. They never told me much, except for the fact that they were afraid for your life. There was some reason that they were especially afraid for you. I don't know why; perhaps it was just parenting instincts, but they wanted me to take care of you," she paused, watching Kayla's face carefully. She really wanted Kayla to take this well, and was sincerely hoping that Kayla wouldn't get too angry over all of this.

"My… parents wanted you to take care of me? But why couldn't they just stay here with us? I don't understand. If I could stay here safely, then why couldn't they do the same?" Kayla said, her mind growing more curious on the subject.

"I honestly don't know Kayla, but I think it's safe to assume that would only do such a thing if they really had to. They probably thought that it would be easier for whomever was after them to spot you if they were always at your side…"

"But why would someone want… me?" asked Kayla, feeling a bit scared.

Her grandmother sighed a heavy sigh, "…I don't know. They never told me. However, since no one has come looking for you over all these years, I think it's safe to say that they've either given up, or aren't around anymore."

Kayla thought about this for a moment. Someone after her? Surely the people who had wanted her were long gone by now; or, like Grama had said, they would have already come looking for her. Kayla tried to control the small bit of fear she was now feeling in her stomach…

"Anyway Kayla, after a lot of letters and arguing over them, I had agreed to take you and raise you for them. So they dropped you off one night while I was asleep…," she paused, tears were now collecting in her eyes, "That was the last I heard of them…."

"Grama… I…," Kayla began, but soon realized she had no idea what to say.

"Your parents were very decent people; I could never imagine them breaking some sort of law… They were very bright, outgoing young people. Believe it or not I even loved your mother as if she were my daughter," she looked at the pile of old pictures that Kayla had brought, and slowly flipped open the flap of one of the covers. There she could see a picture of Kayla's father and mother, both right after they had gotten married, and the smiles on their faces. She smiled, "They were both just so full of love and life; and they told me to make sure that you turned out the same way."

Kayla blushed a bit. She was not a very outgoing person at all… Her whole life she had been the shyest of all the kids around her age. She had never played with the other children unless they went out of their way to want to play with her. When she spoke to strangers, it was politely and so quiet you could barely hear what she had said. When a problem or conflict would arise with someone else, she always immediately gave in. And by the look on her grandmother's face, she knew it too.

"Kayla, I don't want you to grow up and get used by other people," her grandmother said, her stern tone of voice gaining in pitch, "I love your kindhearted personality, but you need to get some backbone. I'm afraid that if you get mixed up with the wrong people, you might end up getting hurt. I know we've talked about this sort of thing before, and I know that this day has already been very stressful for you, but I'd like to suggest something."

Kayla stared at her wondering what it was her grandmother was about to suggest.

"You're father was your age when he left home to go on a pokemon journey, and when he came back, he was the most fun-loving person there ever was. It seemed as if his whole personality had changed. For the better of course, and I just know that it would be so beneficial for you if you left for a while too…."

"What! But Grama… I… what if…?" Kayla stammered, that fear-like sensation starting up in her stomach again. It was just so much to handle at once. Her parent's death… and now her leaving?

The old woman stood up, "Now you listen up Kayla; I know you might not think it such a good idea, but I just know you'll be fine. Soon you'll gain some self-confidence, and maybe meet some friends you can relate to. Which is why I bought this for you…"

She held out a small laminated card. On the front it said in large, loopy letters, "Pokemon License". Kayla blinked at the card. She had always secretly wanted a pokemon friend to talk to, but this…

"You can pick your starter Pokemon tomorrow," said her grandmother, "I think Professor Oak is also giving pokemon to those three other boys that live down the street a ways. At least that's what they told me when I got it for you. Here, take it."

Kayla really felt scared now. She had always lived here in her grandmother's house, in this small town. Now she was being forced to go out into much bigger cities, all alone…

She stared back at the license and took it slowly from her grandmother's hand. "Okay…," she conceded, although she didn't look like it was 'okay'.

Her grandmother smiled. "_That's_ why you need to go my child," she said, referring to Kayla's quick, but reluctant, response.

"I guess so…," said Kayla, feeling hopelessly stuck in this awful spot. She turned to the pictures on the couch cushions. "Can we look at some pictures of my parents?" asked Kayla, desperate to get her mind off of the task ahead of her.

"Sure, but in a little while, you must get ready," said her grandmother as she picked up the post-wedding pictures.

"Okay…," said Kayla.

_A/N: Whew! The first chapter is done! Well, what'dya think? Likes, dislikes, anything? I would say flames are welcome, but I've seen too many others make THAT mistake… Anywhoo, the next chapter will see Kayla meeting new people, and obtaining her first pokemon, so stick around if ya' want to. See you!_


	2. Ch 2 Almost the First Choice

neogirl7900: You're welcome, and your story is great! - Hope you like the second chapter as well!

Maia's Pen: Well, I'm updating right now! I'll probably do one chapter a week or so. Anyway, thanks for the compliments. I worked a lot on my characters' personalities, so hopefully they seem fairly unique and developed.

blacklabel7066: Thanks! 0

Okay, this is probably the longest chapter I've written yet of this story (and I've written like 20 chapters of it), so don't hesitate to take a breather partway through. It's about 13 pages in MS Word; you have been warned! Dun dun dun dun!

**The Glass Half Full**

**Ch.2 Almost the First Choice…**

Twilight was creeping across the grassy fields of a small farm. The shadows of a few Tauros laying in the grass slowly descending into sleep began to disappear as the night's darkness swallowed everything up. All of the windows of the small farm's house were darkened except for one. A tiny window up at the top of the house glowed; a window in the attic.

Kayla's hands moved over the pictures of her parents that she and her grandmother had looked through only hours ago. She had been up in the dusty, dirty attic for about two hours since her grandmother had gone to sleep, thinking of the unknown journey that now awaited her.

Would her parents have wanted her to do this?

She held back tears for a moment. Knots had been in both her stomach and her throat for multiple times in the day, and they didn't seem like they were going anywhere very soon…. Kayla was scared. Scared that she wouldn't live up to the standards that her grandmother expected her to. What if she was no good at pokemon training? What if she came home still her same, timid self? What if…?

"Stop it, Kayla!" she whispered to herself in anger, "You always do this to yourself, and end up making yourself miserable!"

But she couldn't stop. The fear of coming home a failure and the fear of what was to come tomorrow couldn't help but weigh in her mind.

Tears were beginning to form again, and Kayla glanced downward, into the small, dirty box that held things from her parents. She once again stared at the golden coin that she had held up earlier in the day. She hadn't asked her grandmother about it, but now she had wished she had. Putting down the pictures she was previously holding, she gingerly picked up the heavy coin.

"What is this thing?" she whispered to the darkness. On the front, or what she guessed to be the front, were the two bird-like creatures she had seen earlier on it, and at the bottom was some sort of symbol. It looked like a spiky loaf of bread, or a crown or something similar. On the back was some sort of message, or inscription; but time and use had worn them down. Kayla couldn't make out what it was saying.

Kayla didn't know what it was, but since it had belonged to her parents; she felt as if instead of holding a piece of metal, she was holding a piece of them.

After thinking silently for a few more minutes, she decided that there was no way morning was going to stop coming; that she should just resolve herself to her fate and go to bed.

And with those thoughts she closed up the old box, and crawled down the hole in the attic floor, a large golden coin slightly visible in her right jean pocket….

* * *

"Kayla! Wake up! Or you'll be late!"

Kayla practically jumped up in her bed. Her thick hair swayed around her shoulders as she quickly twisted her head to the clock on her cherry wood nightstand.

She frowned, her sapphire eyes still half closed. "But Grama… it's only six-thirty. I still have a whole hour before I'm supposed to be there." She looked over to the door to her room, but there was no one in the doorway. "Grama?" Kayla said, confused as to what just happened.

Footsteps were audible. Soon enough, the old woman herself had popped her head into the doorway, a spatula in hand, "Yes?"

"What're you doing?" asked Kayla, now concerned for her grandmother's mental health.

"I'm cooking breakfast, child! You'll need a hardy meal to survive out there!" she stated, giving Kayla a stern look. Her other hand was on her hip where her frilly white apron met her old, gray shirt. "Now hurry up! I want you to be ready for the professor when the time comes!"

Kayla rose from her bed, and pulled off her nightgown as quickly as she could; which, considering her eyes had not fully adjusted to the light in her room, was actually very slow. She staggered over to her dresser, and pulled out her favorite clothes: pair of navy blue overalls, and a light pink shirt. Even though her favorite color was actually aquamarine, she just loved the softness of her thick pink shirt. After slipping the shirt and overalls on, she took a glance at her crimson hair in the square mirror on the back of her door.

"Yikes!" she said to herself after witnessing the horrible state her hair was in. She tried her best to keep it down and straight, but every time she ran the brush through it, two tufts of hair would pop up on either side of the top of her head. In the end of the battle with her hair, she finally decided to just give in and put two small ponytails on both sides of her head. The rest of her hair hung down to a little below her shoulders.

"Kayla!" shouted her grandmother to her. The smell of eggs and so many other good things soon filled up the room.

"Coming Grama!" called Kayla as she walked briskly into the living room. Assuming her grandmother was in the kitchen, she leaned over to take a peek at what she was cooking. Kayla was amazed. Her grandmother was racing about the kitchen at a speed that could only have been surpassed by one hundred miles per hour! Normally this would have made Kayla smile and think warm thoughts of her grandmother; but now, knowing that her grandmother was counting on her, she found herself looking at the carpet instead of smiling.

She plopped herself down in an old wooden chair at the dining table, still covered in decorations from Thanksgiving, which had had been over for a few months now. Kayla watched as her grandmother served her every breakfast meal under the sun, but she wasn't really taking it in. She ate fried eggs, scrambled eggs that looked a little too gooey, bacon, pancakes, sausage, the works; but her mind was something separate.

When the whole breakfast was over, and the dishes were clean, Kayla sat down on the couch with her grandmother. Kayla looked around at her living room, wanting to take a mental picture for herself; after all, this would no longer be her place to relax anymore.

There were two couches, a large and a small, though they were never full since Kayla and her grandmother were the only ones living there. An old-fashioned television sat in the corner of the room near the kitchen. The feel of the room to anyone that was an outsider would have probably been old and antique, but to Kayla… this was home. Nothing could ever resemble home any better. And no one person could ever replace her grandmother as her caretaker…

Kayla then turned her attention to her grandmother. The old woman rubbed her hands, and Kayla knew that they had probably been hurting from all of the cooking.

"Grama… you didn't have to go through all of that for m—."

"Oh nonsense! Of course I did. It's not everyday someone sets out on a journey in this family now is it?" the old woman said sweetly.

Kayla smiled, "No, I guess not," she paused, thinking of the large coin now with her.

"Um… Grama?"

"Yes dear?"

"When I was looking at the pictures of my parents yesterday, I came across… this…," she said slowly, pulling out the coin as she talked.

Her grandmother glanced at it and an odd expression crossed her face, "…I don't really know what that thing is. You see, these are items that were at your parents' house. A lot of things they owned I don't really know about. However, maybe you should take it along with you."

"Huh?" Kayla said in a high-pitched voice.

"Well, you seem to like it; and since it belonged to your parents, maybe it will be a good luck charm of sorts. Besides, perhaps someone out there will know what it is and be able to tell you a bit about it," she paused for a few moments, obviously thinking to herself, "I've been trying to think of a going-away present for you, and I think this just about fits the bill."

Kayla stared down at the golden birds, then back up at her grandmother's smiling face.

"Alright. Thank you Grama… I'll… I'll… miss," she said, starting to feel tears coming. This was the last time she'd be on the farm for a long time…

"Don't you worry a bit. I know you'll do just fine Kayla," the old woman looked completely sure of herself, and was positively beaming with pride. She gave Kayla a large hug, which practically engulfed the two of them.

"Now!" her more stern voice coming back, "No more of this mushy stuff! I want to see you leaving for that Lab. After all, it's already only fifteen minutes until thirty after…."

Kayla quickly checked the grandfather clock on the other side of the room, and noticed that her grandmother was right. They both stood up.

"…Bye…," said Kayla, wishing that this was all just one big dream.

"Get going you," said her grandmother, smiling as Kayla turned to go.

As Kayla left, she thought of something her grandmother had said to her the day before…

"…_I just know that it would be so beneficial for you if you left for a while too…"_

* * *

'I certainly hope so…' Kayla thought to herself as she waved back to her grandmother's smiling face in the doorway, 'I certainly hope so…'

As Kayla approached the larger than life building, she stopped to get a good look at it.

She had often passed by the pokemon lab, without really noticing it. It was obvious that the building had at one time been a nice bright white color, but with age had faded into an old gray. Even though there were only two stories to it, in Pallet Town there were no other buildings that could even try to rival its size. The fields and rolling rocky hills behind the lab were all used for the exercise of the pokemon that trainers had sent Professor Oak. Speaking of Professor Oak, Kayla had never met him before. Her grandmother had told Kayla all about him, considering that she and him had both lived in Pallet for a few early years of their lives.

Kayla now walked up to the front door. It was a beautiful door, the stained glass of a Charizard and Blastoise battling in the window of it. Kayla reached to pull on the handle, but a sudden feeling of uncertainty gripped her. She tried to shake it off, but suddenly became aware of the fact that footsteps were nearing the door on the other side...

"H... Huh?" she said, looking up at the door.

It swung open quickly, and before Kayla knew it, she was thrown to the ground, her bottom hitting the hard sidewalk in front of the lab.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" called a man's voice.

Kayla tried to stand up, "Oh it's okay...," she said timidly. She looked up to meet a man in a white lab coat. His young face was filled with concern.

"Hi there, lemme help you up," the young man said thoughtfully. Once Kayla had gotten back on her feet, the man put out his hand. "How rude of me not to check and see if someone was on the other side of that door... Anyway, I'm one of Professor Oak's aides. The name's Quigley. I was just on my out to go touring the gyms of Kanto and Johto. Hey! You're probably one of the kids coming today to pick out a pokemon! Good luck... Hey, here's a word to the wise: don't pick the Squirtle. Just don't. Oh, and the Charmander has some issues... don't pick him either... The Bulbasaur has great potential, but his only motivation seems to be food... He's the best pick; but you'd better snatch him quick! Oh, and lucky for you that you're here on time, because the kid that's late gets a Pikachu that's so disobedient, I would absolutely hate to be it's trainer…"

He took a quick look at Kayla's expression, which had gone from timid to downright scared.

"And relax! If you and your pokemon don't get along, you can always catch a better one, and send the old nasty one to Professor Oak! ... Wait, never mind... If you do that, then I'll have to help take care of it..." And with those final words, he started walking away shaking his head, mumbling about various things having to do with disobedient pokemon, and having to hold down a Rhydon and such.

Kayla slowly shook her head. He hadn't even given her a second to talk about any concerns of her own. Granted though, she would have been too scared to speak; the answer she might have been given could've made her feel even worse.

She now turned to the door and reached for the handle, when she suddenly noticed that another shaking hand was already on it. Her eyes followed the arm up to the slightly nervous face of a light brown haired boy with light blue eyes. Judging by his looks, he must've been somewhere around Kayla's age, maybe younger. His hair was cut in what Kayla's grandmother would have called a 'bowl style', and his dark blue t-shirt shook over his body.

He smiled nervously at Kayla. "Uh, going in?"

Kayla blushed; she hadn't had much contact with the opposite sex by living on a small farm that grew its own food...

She gulped and tried to pluck up the courage to find her voice, "Um... yeah?" She paused, 'Um... yeah? ' Why did she phrase it as a question? She hung her head as he opened the door for the two of them; already she was looking so stupid...

"Nervous too, huh?" said the boy. He snickered at himself, "I was so excited about today! I could hardly even sleep last night; but then I get here in the morning, and, well, look at me! A nervous wreck... Some pokemon trainer I'm gonna be.…"

Kayla let out a small sigh of relief. At least she wasn't the only one scared... With that in mind, she became much less worried.

Then his head perked up. "Oh! I'm sorry, my name's Mike. I'm from the house up on that big hill in south Pallet. And you are...?" His soft blue eyes turned to her.

Kayla blushed again. "Um I'm Kayla," she said in a barely audible voice, "And I'm from the, uh, farm up the road..."

"That's cool; living on a farm. Which starter are you gonna pick? I was thinkin' Squirtle or Charmander. They end up evolving into the really strong Charizard and Blastoise! Power; that's what I like about pokemon. That way my girlfriend Emily will finally be able to see that I can be just as tough as any other guy!" he finished, his voice getting higher in volume.

Obviously he was angry about the way his girlfriend thought of him.

Kayla just silently nodded. She was busy looking at all of the things in Oak's lab. He had countless charts and posters of pokemon anatomy, pokemon types, and pokemon starters. Some wood and glass frames held a few important-looking certificates, and of his Pokemon License too. Desks with computers and videophones were all over, and each of them was covered in countless stacks of paper. In a far corner of the room she noticed a large tank with some sort of water pokemon in it. The white seal poked its head out from over the side to watch the two go by. Kayla peered around. Where were they supposed to go in this huge place?

Mike paused in mid-step. "I don't suppose you know where we're supposed to go, do you?" he said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Kayla shook her head no.

"Oh… I thought not…," said Mike, now looking around quickly.

While Mike was busy looking for doors and such, Kayla listened for voices to follow. At first she didn't hear anything, but then she heard what sounded like two people arguing. It was coming from a room off to the left that was partially hidden from their view by groups of large pokemon feed bags.

She cleared her throat to try and get Mike's attention. "Ahem… um, I think I hear people that way…" she said quietly, pointing to the room she heard them in.

"Alright! Let's go check it out. And fast. I'm half-expecting to see Frankenstein in here…" said Mike, looking at the strange wiry and knobby equipment they were passing by.

They entered into the room, and before them stood an older man, obviously Professor Oak; and a young boy that looked about eleven with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. They were apparently arguing as Kayla had suspected….

"Come on Gramps! Why can't I have the Pidgeot!" said the boy, his brow furrowed in anger.

Professor Oak, complete with his hands on his hips, did not look like he was about to let that happen. "Gary, we've been through this! You must pick a starter pokemon and raise it yourself! And furthermore I," he paused, finally noticing Mike and Kayla standing in the entryway to the room, "Oh hello there. I apologize for the argument that my grandson and I were having."

He eyed Gary. "_We'll discuss this later Gary…,"_ he whispered to him.

"Come on over here you two, we should have started about ten minutes ago," he said, glancing at the clock on the wall as Mike and Kayla both entered the room.

In the center of the room were three pokeballs sitting in round grooves on the top of a waist-height machine. Kayla didn't know what the machine was for, but it certainly made the room feel cold and sterile. Each of the pokeballs was inscribed with the name of the pokemon inside it. Kayla looked at them, trying to remember what Mr. Quigley had told her before.

Professor Oak cleared his throat as each of the kids stood near a pokeball, "Usually I just let the new trainers pick their pokemon and leave with it to start their journeys, but I thought I'd do something different this time…." He grabbed the pokeball with the name 'Bulbasaur' on it and tossed it gently to the ground near Mike. A blinding flash came and went, and soon a squatty, green dinosaur-looking pokemon was standing near Mike's shoes. It let out a long yawn, and blinked lazily up at Mike.

Then the professor grabbed the next pokeball labeled 'Charmander'. He tossed it like he had with Bulbasaur's, but this time, the blinding flash yielded a tiny orange lizard. The flame on its tail was glowing softly, and his bright green eyes looked curiously around the room. Lastly, he tossed the pokeball labeled 'Squirtle', and after a third blinding flash, a small, baby blue turtle stood next to the Charmander. Charmander eyed the Squirtle with a suspicious expression, but the Squirtle just gave it an innocent look of curiosity back.

Kayla looked at the three pokemon before her. They didn't seem so bad. What was the aide talking about?

Oak cleared his throat again. "Now, these are your three choices. What you're going to do is see which one is right for you."

"Oh come on Grandpa! Let's just pick one and be done with it!" yelled Gary impatiently.

"Gary! Will you be quiet already?" said Oak in a calm, but annoyed voice. He was trying to keep polite while in front of Kayla and Mike; but Kayla had a feeling that if she and Mike weren't here, Gary would be getting more than just yelled at….

Oak continued, "Now each of you will choose a pokemon to look over. If the two of you seem to fit well together, then you can leave and begin your journey. If one of you can't find one that likes you, then I'm afraid you'll just have to deal with having to train a bit more than the rest. Unfortunately, we all have those we have to get along with in this world. Oh, and if one pokemon appeals to more than one of you, then I'm sorry, but we'll have to settle it with a lots drawing or some such game. But for right now, go ahead and choose one to look at."

Gary raced forward. "Yeah! Fire types are the coolest! You're with me Charmander!" he said loudly, as he picked up Charmander and went back to his spot with him.

Kayla blinked. That young man sure was outgoing. Did her grandmother expect her to be like that?

"Yeah, you are so going to evolve into a Charmeleon when you get to the appropriate level," said Gary, regarding Charmander's cute physique.

Charmander raised an eyebrow. "Great…," he said in a monotone voice, not looking too fond of the idea.

Mike cleared his throat. "Well, I guess it's my turn."

He looked down at the Bulbasaur at his feet. "I think I'll take a look at you. I never really thought about it before, but Venasaur is pretty tough…."

Kayla watched as the Bulbasaur stared lazily up at Mike, yawned, and closed his eyes. Mike frowned. "Hey! I'm talkin' to you," he said, poking the Bulbasaur's side to try and wake him up.

Kayla remembered the aide saying that Bulbasaur had 'motivational problems' and smiled. Then she turned to the last choice to be had.

Oak looked at Kayla reassuringly. "Go ahead."

The tiny Squirtle looked up at Kayla with its big brown eyes. It let out a cute "Squirtle!" and put its little finger in its mouth. Kayla smiled. What was wrong with this Squirtle? She could see it being nothing short of the cutest thing ever…

Oak nodded to the three of them, "Good. If you'll excuse me for a moment, I have to go find out what's keeping Ash. He should have been here about a half an hour ago. I'll be back in a few minutes."

With that he left the room, and the three of them with their new pokemon.

Squirtle watched closely as Professor Oak left the room, and then turned swiftly around to Kayla. Its cute babyish expression faded fast into a rambunctious little smirk.

"Huh?" said Kayla, a bit confused as to why it gave her such a look.

Gary was busy going on about how impressive his new Charizard would be. However, Charmander's expression seemed to be growing more and more annoyed. Its eyebrows kept twitching, and its tail's flame seemed to be growing more and more annoyed too…

Mike still wasn't having much luck with Bulbasaur. It seemed that Bulbasaur was now having a dream, and was proceeding to kick and wail loudly. It must have been battling something in its dream…

Squirtle smiled evilly at Kayla, and then put its right thumb to its mouth. It kept the thumb on its mouth while it wriggled the two other fingers and stuck out its tongue at Kayla.

"Hey… that's not very nice…," said Kayla, now realizing why the aide had said not to pick Squirtle…

Gary stopped and looked over in time to see Squirtle's gesture.

"Ha! That's funny! Ha ha ha!" laughed Gary, now ignoring Charmander.

Soon after it stopped the wiggling fingers, Squirtle's cheeks began to puff up a bit. Mike gasped.

"It's gonna use Water Gun! Get out of its way!"

Gary snickered, "You idiot, it's only at level 5. There's no way it could know Water Gun yet! Dummy."

Gary was right. Squirtle was too low of a level to know Water Gun, but it wasn't too low to know how to squirt water out of its mouth. All water pokemon instinctively know how to squirt water. It's a defense mechanism they all need to survive in the wild. So after a few tense moments of waiting for Squirtle's cheeks to puff up, it suddenly let out a small stream of water directed at Kayla.

Kayla jumped up, water hitting her stomach. "Ahh!" she screamed, running from the pokemon.

But Squirtle wouldn't let her get away that easily. It started to give chase around the room, and Kayla suddenly wished that she had picked something else. Now that Gary and Mike were bonding with Charmander and Bulbasaur, she would most likely get stuck with this horrible Squirtle…

Mike poked Bulbasaur, "Hey, can't you do _anything_?" But Bulbasaur was still enjoying its sleep. Mike sighed. This was going nowhere.

"Why'd I have to get the lazy onggggirrrrrbbbblleee!" he tried to yell, but was stopped halfway by Squirtle drenching him with water. He fell to the ground and spit out some of the water.

Kayla ended up in the corner of the room, trapped in there by a large machine labeled 'Pokemon Reviver' and a chair. She turned back in time to see Squirtle, walking slowly towards her, chuckling to itself, and readying another blast of water. This time, he was aiming for her face.

Kayla put her arms around her head. "Please don't do it!" she pleaded. Why wouldn't any of them help her? The least they could have done was to yell for Squirtle to stop.

Gary continued to laugh, his dark brown hair bouncing as he did so. He pointed to Charmander, "Why can't _you _be as funny as him?"

Squirtle looked over to Gary. At least one of them liked his kind of humor.

Charmander stood up. That was the last straw. It felt sorry for Kayla to have to put up with that Squirtle, and was very tired of hearing Gary's stupid laughter…

"Maybe I'm not as funny as him because I'm not a Jerk-Face like you!" it yelled to Gary, an expression of sheer anger on its face. It ran away from him and leaped in front of Squirtle. Squirtle took a step back in surprise, but after realizing that Charmander had no chance at winning, went back to the same spot.

Kayla looked up from her hands. "Charmander?" she said quietly, wondering if it were there to help her out, or to help out Squirtle in 'playing around' with her.

"Cut it out!" the tiny lizard said to it, putting its orange arms out in a futile attempt to protect Kayla. His bright green eyes leered at the Squirtle.

Squirtle laughed, "Yeah? What're you gonna do?"

Charmander proceeded to run up to Squirtle in order to perform some kind of attack, but Squirtle stopped him cold with a stream of water. And since, as they all knew, Charmander was a fire type pokemon, it fell to the ground after being hit. It used every last bit of energy it had to slowly move its head up to give a last glare at the Squirtle, and then fainted.

Kayla gasped, Gary continued his never-ending stream of chuckles and giggles interrupted by a "_Cool!_" and Mike stared pointedly at Bulbasaur. "Can't you do something? _Anything_?"

It was at that point that Professor Oak came walking back in. To his surprise, one pokemon had fainted, one was running amok, and the third was sleeping… Two of the new trainers were wet, and the third was laughing at them… He put a hand to his mouth.

"Oh dear… I suppose this 'getting to know each other' idea was a little premature… Perhaps next time I should not leave the room…" he said, picking up Charmander.

Gary laughed. "Come on, it was just havin' some fun Grandpa! And I've decided I want Squirtle! That Charmander was weak anyway. It couldn't even withstand one little burst of water that wasn't even an official Water Gun attack," he said, picking up the Squirtle. Squirtle smiled.

Kayla stared at Charmander's now limp body. How could Gary be so heartless? That Charmander was very brave and considerate, and all he could say about it was that it was weak. She looked up at Professor Oak.

"Will it be okay?" she asked, her voice not as quiet as before.

Oak smiled. "Yes, I'll just put him back in his pokeball and revive it in this machine," he said, referring to the huge machine that had trapped Kayla in the corner. He placed the small, white dot on the pokeball to Charmander's nose, and soon a swirling red light had sucked the pokemon back into the tiny ball. He then placed the ball into one of the six designated grooves on the machine and pressed a button. In a few seconds, the machine let out some beeping sounds, and Oak grabbed up the pokeball. He tossed it to the ground, and after the flash of white light, Charmander stood as good as new.

Charmander took a few seconds to get its bearings, and then noticed that Squirtle had become Gary's choice instead of him. It glared up at both Gary and Squirtle; glad that the two imbeciles were now stuck together. Gary stepped forward, he and Squirtle now between Kayla and Charmander.

"Well, now that I've got my pokemon, I think I'll be going Grandpa," he said, returning Squirtle to its ball as he talked.

He kept on talking, "You know, pokemon trainers these days just don't know how to handle their pokemon the way that I do. It requires a level of understanding and knowledge…"

Charmander rolled his eyes as Gary went on. Kayla was watching it, and smiling from the pokemon's reactions to Gary's 'speech'. Charmander noticed Kayla watching him, and began to make faces behind Gary's back as he talked on. First it stuck its tongue out at him, and then it waved its behind in the air at him. Then it moved its mouth to the time Gary's mouth moved and made funny faces at the same time.

Kayla stifled laughter.

Gary raised an eyebrow. "What?" he asked. Kayla stopped and shrugged her shoulders. Gary went on.

When his giant speech was over, Professor Oak sighed. "Yes, well, Gary, you first must finish packing; then you can go."

Gary's smug expression quickly faded. "Huh? But I thought that… Oh fine!" he yelled, stomping off to another room in the lab.

Oak turned to Kayla and Mike. "Well, have you two decided?" he asked, ignoring Gary's stormy disappearance.

Kayla waited for Mike to talk first.

"I know I came in here wanting a 'power pokemon', but since Gary took Squirtle, if I take a grass pokemon as a starter, I can beat him!" said Mike, a look of determination in his eyes that Kayla had seen before when he had mentioned impressing his girlfriend.

Kayla gave a puzzled look to Mike. Why would he want to beat Gary? He never showed any signs of wanting to beat him before. She then figured it must be something personal, and that maybe someday she would find out…

"So, I guess I'll take this Bulbasaur," finished Mike, still attempting to get Bulbasaur to wake up, "On one condition."

Professor Oak nodded for him to continue.

"_Can you tell me how I can get him to wake up_!" he yelled loudly as he yanked the bulb on the dinosaur's back.

Professor Oak laughed, "Oh just wave some food in front of his face and he'll wake up fine. Once you two get to be good friends, I'm sure he'll wake up much easier."

Mike looked skeptical, but nodded just the same.

Oak looked at Kayla. "I suppose that leaves you with Charmander. Is that alright with you Kayla?"

Kayla felt herself turn red. She always felt so nervous when people of high authority addressed her. But she stared down at the little fiery lizard that smiled back at her, and found her voice again, "Yes, I think it will be alright…"

_A/N: Whew! Well, whoever read through the entire thing without stopping can have a cookie, maybe several. Anyway, thoughts on stuff? Comments? I originally had those little arrow-pointy things around pokemon speech, but this website won't let me post it that way, so I just decided to use quotation marks instead. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next chapter, or when I read your own fan fics! See you!_


	3. Ch 3 Traveling Buddies Anyone?

**neogirl7900**: Thanks! I tried my best to make my characters have realistic personalities, because, in my mind, there isn't enough of that in many of the fan fiction out there. Um, about the poke-speak, just read below and I hope that will clear up anything confusing. I think you'll get used to it though. Well hopefully. If not then… um… I'll give you a cake.

**Zudinmulamshius**: Glad you like Charmander. I think he's my favorite in this story. He's also the one who when crazy confusing stuff is happening he's like, "Um okay… what the heck's going on here!" And I use Gary quite a bit in my story. I miss Gary's bratty attitude on the show; he's all goody-goody now! I hate that! Oh, and I hope my grammar and spelling are pretty good seeing as I proofread every chapter about 5 times at least. (And I _still_ find mistakes after I post them sometimes!)

**Maia's Pen**: Yes, as stated above, Gary is one of my favorites to play with as well! I gave Charmander to Gary first because I always thought that Gary would pick the most powerful of the three starters; and what pompous, arrogant kid wouldn't want a Charizard to whoop everyone's booty! But of course, as we all now, Gary got Squirtle in the show, so I gave it a personality that was kinda like Gary's (this will cause some trouble for Gary though much later on!). And thank you for the compliment on my writing skills; I try my best!

**Kritika Kritik**: Yes, I must admit, there are a lot of trainer fics out there. There are also a lot of Ash/Misty fics, a lot of 'Misty comes back' fics, a lot of fics with Eevee or Vulpix or Charmander sweatdrop as main pokemon in them, and a lot of Ryou/Bakura fics in the Yugioh section as well. O.O I tried to be original, but pokemon's been around for so long it seems that everything's already been done. Hopefully some of my characters aren't too stereotypical. And thanks for the well-written part!

**Antithesis**: Thank you! Yeah I get tired of seeing those perfect main characters that everyone loves, they always win their battles, and they catch like 20 pokemon within the first two chapters. Ugh… Plus, I think that trainer fics need another storyline besides the story of just traveling around. I mean, after a while they get kinda boring (like some of the Pokemon Johto episodes…). Anywhoo, I hope ya' like the rest of it as well.

**blacklabel7066**: Thanks! I'm glad you're still reading it! And I hope you like the rest!

Okay, first off, apologies for the confusion about pokemon speak. The pokemon in my story are too important to have little to no dialogue that the reader can understand, so you (the reader) are able to see what they're saying. Kayla, in the last chapter anyway, did NOT understand what Charmander said, he was just saying "Char…," or whatever. I won't use quotation marks anymore though, since it is rather confusing. How about using parentheses? Like…

Charmander rolled his eyes and mumbled, (Great….)

or I guess maybe these…

Charmander rolled his eyes and mumbled, Great….

I'm gonna let you guys decide. So when you review, tell me which style ya' like (or you could pick something else besides these two), and whichever one is the most popular will be it.

For this chapter though, I'll use parentheses. You know, these: (Great….)

Whew!

After such a long chapter, this one will probably seem like a breeze! Anyway, this is really more like a transition chapter into the next, which will have much more action. Though it does leave a bit of mystery at the end! And I promise I won't take as long to update as I did last time (my family was busy getting a new computer last week so I've been a bit enthralled by its metallic wonder lately, but the novelty has worn off a bit). Enjoy.

**The Glass Half Full**

**Ch.3 Traveling Buddies Anyone?**

"_Beep! I am Dextra; the female PokeDex. Please enter your name using the keypad below…."_

Kayla's fingers moved across the white keys until the five letters of her name were all lying upon the screen of the small, red device.

Mike leaned over. "Aww… how come you got the girl PokeDex?" he said, looking disappointed in the fact that his was only the usual, boring male one.

Kayla smiled, "Professor Oak said that it was a new invention of his…."

Mike still looked jealous.

The two of them were just about to enter the small wooded area north of Pallet Town. The trees still were nicely spaced out, and there was a clear road to walk on. The sun was now shinning high in the sky, and large white, cottony clouds were floating above. A noise could be heard coming up the road from Pallet…

"Do you hear that? Sounds like a car…," Mike trailed off, turning his head back to see if his assumption was right.

Which he was. A large apple red car was now coming up the road speeding up to where Kayla and Mike were walking. Its brand-new wheels came skidding to a stop as it neared the two pedestrians.

"Gary?" they both said in surprise as they looked to see who was in the car.

Gary sat in the passenger seat at the front of the car, while a woman in sunglasses and a hat drove. It looked like a huge lobster holding people on its back. In the back of the car, were a great number of… girls. They were dressed like cheerleaders, and looked as if they were ready for a big game to cheer on. One of the younger girls, who had auburn hair, sat up and smiled.

"Hi Mike! Look at me! I was chosen by Gary to be on his cheer squad! Can you believe it!" she said, tossing her pom-poms as she talked.

"Cheer Squad…?" said Kayla in quiet disbelief.

"Emily! What? But why…? How did?" stammered Mike, not really knowing how to approach the subject. His expression was a mix of anger and surprise; which made him look a little odd.

Emily smiled. "Oh silly, I only did it so that I could be nearby on your journey!" she said, winking to him.

Kayla raised an eyebrow; she wasn't too sure that Emily meant it…

"How would that be with me? You're driving a car. There's no way I can keep up with it. You guys'll be in Saffron before I even get to Cerulean!" scoffed Mike, apparently thinking the same thing Kayla was.

Emily's face saddened, "Mike. How could you even _think_ that I was going just to be with Gary!"

"But I—."

"But nothing!" yelled Emily, "_For your information_, Gary wants to walk by himself when we get to places he can catch pokemon at. SO, we won't be driving all the time!"

Mike's expression softened. Kayla could tell that Emily had really hurt his feelings…

Gary took this short moment of silence to lean out over the side of the lobster.

"Heh, don't take it so hard Mikey! Besides, looks like you've got yourself a traveling buddy," he said smugly, pointing to Kayla.

Kayla blushed. She hadn't really thought about the idea of traveling with someone. That would make her journey much less lonely; and she already considered Mike as somewhat of a friend…

"Anyway," Gary said, his smug look continuing, "I'll get out here ladies. See you all in Viridian!" He waved to them and blew kisses, which the girls in the back returned. Even Emily. Then the lobster began to drive off, a plume of exhaust rising in its wake.

The three trainers all looked at each other for a moment. Mike wasn't even glaring at Gary this time. They just stood there, each waiting for the others to say something. Blushing still, Kayla raised up her hand timidly.

"Uh… may I… say something?" she asked quietly.

Gary let out one 'ha!' and then smiled, "No."

"Gary!" said Mike looking annoyed, "Go on Kayla; he's just being a jerk."

Kayla felt even more of her already low self-esteem trickle away; but knew she would never get another chance like this again, so she continued. "Well…" she started, her hand now clutching her sleeve nervously, "I was thinking that maybe we… uh, the three of us could… well, maybe um, t… travel um, together?"

Gary had that smug smile on his face again. "Oh," he said in a fake superior voice, "_You_ two could travel together. But, well, I have a very _different_ idea about pokemon training…."

There was a long pause while nobody spoke a word; then Mike rolled his eyes. "Okay Gary you've got us, _what_ is your 'different idea'?" he sighed, his voice sounding very tired of Gary Oak.

The smug expression on Gary's face was quickly replaced by a business-like sternness, "You two really are new at this, aren't you? How do you ever expect to become great trainers if you're always relying on someone else?"

He looked at the two of them, knowing he would get no answer.

"I work alone. I may get driven around in a car; but I always walk the forests and mountains by myself. That way I learn about the wild pokemon and catch them without any support from anyone else. I don't depend on anyone but my pokemon and me. And it's always going to be that way. If you two were really serious about training, you'd do it the hard way… alone."

He stared at Kayla for a moment. Then continued.

"With people around you all the time for support, you'll never grow up; never be able to experience things by yourself. You won't know how to get out of any problem situations without help. _That's_ why I go alone. And if you two losers want to be anything nearly as good as me… you'll do the same. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with destiny…."

He turned on his heel, brown hair bouncing as he did so, and walked briskly away.

Kayla half-expected Gary to say something to that effect. She had an idea that he was not exactly fond of her and Mike. However, Mike was still here; what was his answer going to be to all this…?

Mike took a moment to think about what Gary had said. After a long pause, he cleared his throat and looked at Kayla.

"Kayla, I was thinking about what Gary had said… And I think I'll travel alone too. Don't get me wrong; I think you're a really nice person. But I think Gary's right. If I'm really going to win Emily back…" he waved his arms as Kayla opened her mouth, "I know I know, but she _might_ still have some feeling for me. Anyway, if I'm going to get her back, I'm going to need to be as strong as Gary. And to do that; I'll need some serious training." He paused as Kayla soaked in his words.

"We'll still see each other some times. We just won't be traveling together all the time. In fact, I'm sure we'll be seeing each other at the gyms and cities. They're not that big."

Kayla nodded silently. Then, attempting to look happy, said her goodbye, "Yeah… I guess you're right. Um, well, bye."

"Catch ya' later! See, you're smiling already!" said Mike, happily darting off into the forest, looking determined to capture some tough pokemon.

Kayla watched as he left. 'He couldn't even tell that I was really very sad to be alone…' she thought to herself, 'Well, since we just met, I guess he didn't know me well enough to tell….'

Now she was all alone for sure though. The woods that had looked warm and friendly a few minutes ago, now looked cold and uninviting. She stared around the underbrush of the woods as she slowly crept through them. Constantly looking behind her shoulder, and listening to every crack and whistle she heard she passed by a big oak tree. The tree looked old enough to have been around when the planet was made. Its leafless branches twirled and twisted into knobs and points.

Kayla gaped at it. "What a creepy tree…" she said quietly, as if afraid to startle it.

She shook her head; she didn't want to be alone… But no one was around to be a comforting sight anymore… She clutched her parents' large coin in her pocket…

Then it hit her. Charmander!

She grabbed her light blue backpack off her back and dug around for anything spherical. She pulled out Charmander's pokeball and tossed it as Professor Oak had before. The small, fiery lizard came out after the blast of white light.

His tail stood up erect, his eyes narrowed, and his arms were tensed. He leered around the area, scanning for his opponent. But the only things around him were Kayla and the huge tree…

(Huh?) he said, turning to Kayla. (I see no opponent. So what am I doing out?) he asked, staring up at her in a confused state.

Kayla smiled nervously. "Um, I thought maybe you could walk with me?"

(What! _Walk_ with you? I thought that I was just supposed to battle, not be out with you doing… well doing… whatever it is trainers do besides catch pokemon,) he looked around helplessly, (I don't even know what to do… just, walk with you?)

Kayla nodded, "Well yes, uh, don't you think walking will be much better than being confined to your pokeball…? Now let's go this way and get away from this creepy tree."

Charmander began to follow her. (All right I guess so. I would like to walk a bit, and that tree _was_ creep... Wait a minute! Did you just_ understand what I said_!) he asked, leaping forward so that he could get Kayla's attention.

"What? What's wrong Charmander? Do you not want to go that way?" Kayla asked, confused and a bit scared of why Charmander was blocking her path.

Charmander sighed and scratched his head as he let Kayla pass, (…must be losing my mind….)

He looked back at the old oak tree as they both walked away. There was something about it that made him feel as if someone were watching them… and he didn't like it.

_A/N: Not much to say here, just thanks for reading! Next chapter has more character development for Charmander, ice cream, and a mysterious pokemon. Stay tuned, and reviews would be nice! And don't forget to pick out a poke-speak quotation for me to use! Thanks for reading!_


	4. Ch 4 A Faithful Follower

**neogirl7900**: Yes, Mike does seem to always get the muddy end of the stick in this story. And I tried to make Gary annoying yet still somewhat normal and enjoyable to read. Anyway, thanks for the review!

**Antithesis**: Yeah, um, I think I'm gonna go with parentheses. I used to use those ones you warned me about, but, um, yeah, they don't work. So, parentheses it is then!

Oh, and sorry for the long update wait! I totally forgot Spring Break was upon us! (Well, at least for most of us…) However, now I'll be updating when I can, so enjoy the next chapter!

**The Glass Half Full**

**Ch.4 A Faithful Follower**

As Kayla and Charmander passed tree after tree, they saw absolutely no pokemon. There were plenty of bushes, trees, and underbrush for pokemon to inhabit; it just made no sense that none were to be seen…

Kayla started feeling a bit concerned. Not because she wouldn't get the chance to catch a new pokemon, but more because it was just so strange. The air had a quiet tenseness, like a silence before something terrible would happen.

"I guess the pokemon are all… um… sleeping?" whispered Kayla, afraid to break the long silence.

Charmander turned swiftly around to face the way they had come from. (There's someone there! I can just tell!) he said, glaring and trying as hard as he could to see past leaves and bushes. His emerald eyes narrowed and quickly scanned the area.

"What's wrong?" asked Kayla; now starting to get those knots in her stomach again… She compulsively grasped her right arm.

(Come out! I know you're there! It's not nice to scare people just starting on a journey!) called Charmander, sincerely hoping that whatever pokemon came out was nothing higher than level five. He tried to make his voice sound intimidating, but being a tiny lizard with a high voice wasn't doing anything close to that.

Kayla looked all around her, but could not see anything. The large trees with their long branches seemed so ominous without any sound in them, and with all of the silence, the smallest noise sounded as if a bomb had gone off… She could hear the ground moving under her when shifted her weight.

She couldn't take being in this woody area any longer… Fear began to well up from inside her and her mind was now entering survival mode. "Charmander…" she said, her legs wobbling from fear, "L-Let's get out… outta here…."

Charmander turned around to look at her, and saw how scared she was. (Alright,) he said, (We can go. But I would still like to know what's watching us….)

With Charmander leading the way, the two of them began to walk briskly towards what they hoped was the end of the woody area, and to Viridian City. After a few hundred steps or so, and what seemed like an eternity to Kayla, they finally reached a break in the trees. The two partners stepped out into the hot sun again to meet Viridian City.

It was bigger than Pallet, and the buildings had a nice new look to them. Kayla had only been in this town once before, and the one thing she remembered was a small ice cream shoppe that her grandmother had taken her to. But she had no idea where it would be in all these tall buildings; she was only about five when she had come here previously…

Charmander peered back into the woods. He still had this nagging feeling that someone was on their tails… Something strong.

As the pair walked around town, Kayla began to notice how many people a city could really hold. They just seemed to pour out of the doorways of buildings and cars; and many of them walked the streets too. Kayla eyed an old woman walking a few yards ahead of her and had sudden thoughts of her grandmother…

She looked toward the ground. "I miss her… She would probably know where the Ice Cream Shoppe was…" she said aloud, her voice clearly reflecting her melancholy feelings.

(I know… ugh… how you feel,) huffed Charmander, dodging in and out of passerby's feet, (Right now I wish I were back in Pallet too… hey, watch it! Ouch!) A man's foot booted him onto the hard sidewalk.

Kayla turned around. "Charmander? Where did you go…?" she asked loudly, the little lizard gone from her sight. Her eyes scanned the sidewalk, but there were so many people, the only things she could see were handbags and pants.

She pushed through a small line of girls. One of them turned around and pushed Kayla back.

"Hey! Watch it you stupid hick-girl!" she yelled, her heavily fake-colored red hair flipping around as she turned to go back to her group.

Kayla stood in mild confusion. "Hick-girl?" she said quietly, "What's that?"

Suddenly she felt a small tug at her pant leg. Charmander had finally found his way back to her. She smiled, "Oh Charmander! I thought you were gone…."

(I wouldn't leave you; you're my trainer!) he said, smiling back up at her. Then he turned toward the opposite side of the street and pointed.

(And look what I found!) he said happily.

Kayla's eyes followed the invisible path traced by Charmander's finger over to a small, but slightly familiar, shop on the other side of the street. It looked old and run-down, but was still open for business. Obviously it was one of those mom and pop stores that have trouble in the bigger cities. On the front window were large, blue, painted letters spelling out, "Papa's Ice Cream Shoppe". Kayla's eyes lit up.

"Charmander, you found the Ice Cream Shoppe! Oh you don't know what this means to me! And it's still the same way it was when Grama and I went to it all those years ago," she said, a bit of excitement stirring in her.

(Shall we?) said Charmander, tugging Kayla's pant leg toward the street.

Kayla nodded happily. The two walked across the street quickly, so as not to disturb traffic, and stopped shortly in front of the old shop. Kayla could see that no one was inside, except an old man at the counter. He looked up as Kayla and Charmander entered the store.

(That must be Papa…,) whispered Charmander while raising an eyebrow at the dusty man.

"W… what? Customers? Why I'll be…," he said softly, a look of amazement on his face, "Why, it's been two days since someone's come in here! Darn newfangled ice cream store francheeses and such are murderin' our business…. Thought I was gonna have ta' eat the ice cream all by my lonesome," he paused for a moment, his light blue eyes looking into Kayla's, "Say, you're not just here fer the bathroom are ya'?"

Kayla blushed, "No! Not at all! We came in here for some ice cream, uh, sir."

The old man smiled, his many wrinkles becoming more pronounced, "Good. What would ya' like?"

He moved his hand across the glass countertop to showcase many ice creams and sorbets that the small metal containers held. Kayla chose her favorite, Rocky Road; and Charmander, being new to ice cream, chose Sherbet, but only because it was orange like him.

The two sat at a tiny, two-seat table and began to eat their ice cream. They were silently licking their scoops for a few moments, until Charmander let out a cry.

(Ahh! Something's wrong with my ice cream!) he yelled, pointing to a mound of melting Sherbet. Kayla looked up.

"What's wrong?" she asked, puzzled as to why Charmander was so freaked out, "Do you not like the taste?"

Charmander pointed to the drooling orange mess that was his ice cream.

"Oh, it's just melting kinda fast… that's weird, it's not very hot in here…" she said, grabbing a napkin from a grubby old dispenser.

The ice cream man looked up from his newspaper, "Too hot? Seems cold in here to me…."

(Well of course it's cold to him! _He's an old man_!) said Charmander, futilely attempting to lick up the orange blob.

"Maybe it's because you're a fire pokemon?" offered Kayla, thinking in terms of pokemon.

(What! That can't be; or I'd be melting it more if I breathed on it, right?) he said, eyeing his remaining scoop below that was still fairly solid.

He breathed in deeply, and then exhaled onto his last scoop. They both watched as the scoop went from solid to liquid in a time range of ten seconds… Charmander rubbed the back of his head.

(Oh….)

* * *

As Kayla and Charmander left the small shop, they noticed that there were much fewer people around than before. The sun was over near the horizon now, and it was obvious that the mess of people from before must've been going home from work- the 5 o'clock rush.

Kayla looked around, and noticed a small park with a beautiful fountain in it a few yards away from them.

"Look at that fountain!" she exclaimed to Charmander. She began to walk up to it. It had five layers that the water inhabited. Kayla's eyes glimmered as she watched the water spout out the top of the structure, and trickle down each level.

Charmander was watching her happily; when he suddenly felt a chill go up his spine. He quickly turned around.

(So, you're back!) he said menacingly as he realized that their 'stalker' was back. The flame on his tail grew larger again, and he readied his scratch attack…

(Come on! What're you afraid of coward! Show yourself!) he yelled to the small group of trees he was facing.

Kayla turned around; she could feel it too… The feeling of something watching her… She looked as hard as she could through the trees. But, like before, nothing. Whoever was watching them, sure did do it well. She took a step towards the trees.

"Please come out… um… we don't want to hurt you; we just want to know why you're following us," she pleaded, motioning to Charmander to put his arms down so that he wouldn't look threatening.

A few leaves rustled in the bushes below a large tree in the center of the group they were facing, and made Kayla take a timid step back. She wasn't _that _brave…

What finally emerged from behind the great tree was not a huge, powerful pokemon, but a small, brown dinosaur-like creature wearing a skull on its head and carrying a bone on its back.

"A… Cubone?" gasped Kayla. She took a good look at it. The powder-white skull on its head was cracked in several spots; one large crack on its forehead made it seem as if it had one eyebrow. It was fairly larger than a regular Cubone would be, and the bone it carried was old and cracked too. Its eyes were half-closed, but not in a threatening way. It just stood there, watching her and Charmander.

(Well, what'dya want Pops?) said Charmander, feeling annoyed that this old Cubone had been following him for so long without reason.

The Cubone walked toward the two of them slowly. Charmander brushed up his battling skills again and stood ready to take him on. But the old-timer walked past him, and instead stopped in front of Kayla.

(Huh!) piped Charmander, his expression one of confusion and fear as he watched the unknown pokemon approach Kayla, (Wait, what're you doing with her!) He ran up to stop abruptly behind the Cubone and stay ready in case it tried anything sneaky…

Cubone lowered his head and closed his eyes. (I have been following you ever since you passed by my tree. I live in the 'Feared Oak' of the Pallet Forest. When you passed by me, I sensed something that I had not sensed for almost fourteen years…,) he paused, (I had to follow you to find out if what I sensed was really true.)

Charmander blinked. (What!) he leaned over to Kayla and covered part of his mouth with his hand so that Cubone couldn't hear, (I think Pops here is a loony….)

Kayla smiled nervously. She had no idea what the two pokemon were saying. Charmander didn't seem threatened anymore, so the initial fear was pretty much gone, but how would she ever know why this pokemon was following her? She blushed a bit from embarrassment, and her voice grew quieter.

"Uh… I'm really sorry, Mr. Cubone, but I honestly don't know what you're saying…" she said, hoping the little pokemon wouldn't get angry at her or anything.

The Cubone raised an eyebrow under his secondary skull. (Hm… I suppose I was premature on my assumption. If you were who I thought you were; then you would have understood me.)

He turned around quietly and began to walk away.

(Wait a minute!) cried Charmander, (You're just leaving like that? But….)

"Uh… I'm really sorry if I said something to, um, offend you Mr. Cubone…" Kayla said timidly. She wished more than anything right now that she somehow had the power to understand him, but nothing would come to her…

(Cheez… what a rude old man. Oh well,) Charmander said, turning around to face Kayla again, (Try not to feel so bad Kayla; he was just a weird old pokemon.)

"Hm…" said Kayla, unsure of what to do now. The Cubone had left her a bit depressed. She felt inside her pocket, and remembered that she had never shown her parents' coin to Charmander.

"Hey Charmander! Um, do you want to see something of my parents'?" she asked, bringing out the golden piece.

The Cubone a hundred feet away or so turned his head to look back as he walked away.

Charmander's eyes lit up, (Ooh… shiny…. But what are these birds on the front?)

"I thought you'd like it," Kayla said, smiling.

(Where did you get that?) said the Cubone, now back next to the two partners.

Kayla looked up, "Oh… um, you like it too?"

(Look Pops,) said Charmander, now getting really annoyed at this pokemon, (If you wanna say something, just say it already and leave. You like asking questions, but you still haven't really even answered our first question to you!)

The Cubone raised an eyebrow at Charmander, (Do not make me hurt you boy. I may be old, but I am at a much higher level than you. And please; do not call me 'Pops'.) He paused, (Now, tell me. Did your master really obtain this from her parents?)

(Yes, if she says so, I'd believe her,) said Charmander, unsure of where this odd conversation was leading them.

Kayla watched their conversation silently. She couldn't tell what they were saying, but she had a feeling that the appearance of the coin was what made Mr. Cubone come back.

She broke the brief moment of silence.

"Uh… Mr. Cubone? If you want to know about this, well, I really don't know much about it myself. My Grama told me that it belonged to my parents… See, here's a picture of them…" she said, pulling out her wallet from her pack and opening it to family pictures. Most of her pictures were of her grandmother and her, but one spot was saved especially for her mother and father.

Cubone's eyes widened. (So it is true… You are the one I thought you were… But then why didn't youOh yes, I understand now. In fact, they probably _wanted _it this way. Yes… I see now, they wouldn't have wanted you spotted, or detected by them….)

(_What are you talking about_! This is just getting weirder!) said Charmander, now more confused than ever.

The Cubone nodded, (If you would like for me to explain the best I can, I'll need you to come with me somewhere. I'll have to be somewhat creative to explain things to… what was her name? Kayla? Well, I'm sure I could do it, I just need you two to come with me for a moment.)

He walked away a few feet, and then motioned them to follow. Kayla, still holding out her wallet, looked down at Charmander. He just stared back up at her.

"Um… well, it couldn't hurt to follow him, I guess…" she said, quickly pushing her wallet and coin back where they belonged.

_A/N: Well, enjoy the semi-short chapters while you can because they're about to get longer! What exactly is this old Cubone's connection to Kayla? And why is everything about him so creepy? Review if ya' like! And if you do, then you get a virtual hug!_


	5. Ch 5 Decisions, Decisions

**neogirl7900:** Well, to tell ya' the truth, you won't find out about what the coin means for quite some time. ; And I'm glad you like the characters so far, that's what I worked hardest on! Thanks for reading!

**Antithesis:** Glad you like it so far. I actually didn't have the part with Charmander and the ice cream in there at first, but since I added it in it's become one of my favorite parts. Oh, and here's your hug: -SQUEEZE-

Okay, here we go, chapter numero five!

**The Glass Half Full**

**Ch.5 Decisions, Decisions…**

(This is where you wanted to take us? An old abandoned house?) said Charmander in disbelief. He stared up at the rickety old shell that had once been a house.

It was hard to imagine that anyone had ever inhabited it. The windows, if not broken, had all been layered with dirt and residue over the years, and there wasn't a single shingle on the roof that didn't look as if someone had loosened it, or pulled it up, to make it look tattered. Kayla walked up to the ragged door, which was half open, and wondered too why Cubone had brought them here.

The brown pokemon lazily walked over to where Kayla was standing; his gaze following the edges of the doorway. (This is a very important place for the both of us,) said Cubone, his gruff voice now softer, deeper.

Kayla gave a nod, even though she had no idea what he was saying to her.

The pokemon looked up at her for a moment; then blinked. (Oh yes. I forget, you are unable to understand me… Come this way,) he said, leading them to the interior of the house.

Kayla hesitated. But when Charmander walked past her shrugging, and went in; she decided it was alright.

Inside the house were… things. People's things, like magazines, books, a pencil, and what appeared to be an old plant that had gone wild. They were all dirty and looked as if they had been uncovered from some sort of archeological dig. Kayla had never seen an abandoned house before, but she thought it was the saddest thing ever…

She picked up the old magazine. "How sad… these things from people's lives, just lying around. Forgotten…."

Cubone blew on a picture frame that he had picked up. He took a moment to stare at it, and then walked over to Kayla, who was still looking at the magazine. He offered the picture to Kayla so she could look at it.

Kayla blinked, "Y… you want me to look at it?" she asked to make sure.

Cubone nodded, waving the picture to show that she could take it.

Kayla grabbed onto the picture and wiped away some of the residue on it. In the picture was a couple. And in an instant she recognized the young man with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes; and the woman next to him with fluffy red hair that was not unlike Kayla's…

"M-my-my parents…?" she said, looking down at Cubone.

(Yes…) said Cubone, nodding.

Charmander jumped up a little. (What's that? Is that a picture of her parents? What's going on!) he said anxiously. He couldn't sit still without knowing what was going on; and all of this was so confusing to him.

Kayla stood silently for a few moments, looking around the house, "So… this was my parents'… house? But I thought that Grama took every… well, now that I think about it, she did say that some things accidentally got left behind. She must have dropped this in the process of getting their things…." She looked back at the picture of them. But then she noticed there were others in the picture besides just her parents…

Four pokemon; a Pidgey, a fiery weasel-looking pokemon she had never seen before, an Ivysaur, and a short brown pokemon with a crack on its forehead that looked like one eyebrow…

"Mr. Cubone? Is this… you?" she asked timidly, secretly knowing the answer already.

Cubone nodded quietly.

"So you were one of my… my father's pokemon?" she asked, drawing the conclusion from the positions of the pokemon in the picture.

Cubone nodded again.

It was then that Kayla remembered looking through the pictures of her parents with her grandmother, and seeing these same four pokemon throughout them. Cubone was one of them. She hadn't realized it before; she had been so preoccupied with looking at her parents, that she hadn't given the pokemon a second glance.

Charmander blinked. (How did you meet Kayla's Dad?)

(That, is a long story… but because Kayla cannot understand me… I will have to make it brief,) said Cubone, looking at the ground. He walked up to the old pencil on the ground and picked it up. He turned it over so that the eraser was facing down, and the dusty tip was facing up. Then he bent over and began to draw lines in the dusty dirt on the floor.

Kayla leaned over to see what he was doing.

(From the time I spent with my Master, I learned a great deal of things about human beings… You see, from the very beginning of my life, I had only known cruelty. However, my Master showed a different side to the world around me, and also a different side to humans. After a time with him, I began to want to communicate with him more, so he taught me some words of the written human language… I have not used them in years, but I think today is the day to remember,) Cubone paused, and took a step back from his spot to admire his handiwork.

What Kayla saw in the dust of the floor were the outlines of something large and pointy with a thick bottom and arms that twisted and turned… much like the creepy Oak tree in the woods… Below it were some scribbles that remotely resembled a word.

"H… ho… home? That old oak tree was your home?" asked Kayla, a bit surprised that her father's pokemon could live in such a place.

Cubone nodded.

(I… I could write human words too if I had enough time!) said Charmander in a whiny voice from behind Kayla, folding his arms.

Cubone went back to draw more. With the pencil and the dust on the floor, he showed Kayla many things about his past. He drew himself by the tree, and a blobby stick figure labeled "Master" walking to the tree. Then he wrote "caught" after that, and drew a long arrow for the distance he had traveled with Kayla's father. When he was done, Kayla was satisfied, but still had one more question…

"How did you get here though, and not hurt or captured by the people after my parents?" she said curiously.

Cubone then wrote the word "escape" on the ground.

Kayla assumed he meant 'escaped', and nodded. She paused for a moment and glanced at the picture. "But… what about the other poke--."

Cubone bowed his head and shook it slowly.

"Oh…" said Kayla feeling sorry for the other pokemon, even though she had only known about them for a very short time.

There was a long silence for a few minutes. Kayla kept staring at the picture Cubone had shown her. Her parents looked so happy in the picture… and they were together, with their pokemon, like a family… Kayla felt tears start to form in the corners of her eyes. She swallowed.

Why was it so easy to miss someone you've never known…?

Cubone watched Kayla wipe her eyes quickly. Then thought for a moment. He began to write again in the dust.

(What are you doing now?) asked Charmander, feeling left out again.

(I am attempting to ask the lady a question,) he said, eyeing Charmander dangerously.

The orange lizard took a step back. (Okay Pops! You don't have to get all bent out of shape abou--)

Cubone glared at him.

(Uh… I think I'm gonna wait over here behind Kayla!) he said nervously, his small voice cracking a bit.

Kayla managed to look down at what Cubone had asked her in the dust. The word was one he had written before, but this one had a question mark after it...

"Capture?" it said in the dust.

Kayla blinked. "Y… you want me to… capture you? You want to come with us?"

(What!) said Charmander, not expecting this old Cubone to actually want to pokemon train.

(Yes,) Cubone nodded, (It is the least I could do for my Master's daughter…)

"I was kinda, um, hoping you would want to come with us Mr. Cubone. It would be like if my father were here with me in some way…," said Kayla, smiling. She thought to herself for a moment. "But, I don't have a pokeball…."

(The Pokemon Mart should have some!) suggested Charmander, glad that he could actually add something to the conversation. He pointed to the way out.

Kayla nodded, "You know where I can get some Charmander?"

Charmander nodded back, (Yep, this way!)

Cubone followed close behind the lizard, as Kayla paused in the doorway. She was still holding the dusty picture of her parents. Giving a weak smile, she grabbed her pack and pushed the old picture into one of the many pockets, being extra careful not to bend or break it. Then, giving the empty house one last look, she walked out into the sunlight, and closed the front door behind her.

* * *

Charmander had spotted the Pokemon Mart a while back when Cubone had been leading them to Kayla's parents' house, and so he knew where it was. The small shop was only a block away, and in the early evening its shadow extended longer than it was tall. As the trio entered the large Pokemon Mart through the glass doors, a small grumbling noise was heard. 

(Heh, uh, I guess I'm hungry!) said Charmander, rubbing his head.

Cubone ignored him, and kept walking with Kayla.

Kayla approached the front desk, and the man at it.

"Um, excuse me sir, but how much is it for one pokeball?" she asked timidly.

The man pulled off his blue hat with the pokeball insignia on it, "Just… one?" he said, looking extremely skeptical.

"Well, uh, yes. You see, I need it for this Cubone…" she answered, feeling herself getting more embarrassed. Why did he act like she had asked him to give her a pet Aerodactyl?

"Oh, well, you see usually I get beginner trainers that ask for six, ten, some even twenty pokeballs. But hardly ever just one. Come to think of it, I don't think any trainer has even asked for just one… Don't you plan on catchin' more than that one there?" he explained, still giving Kayla an odd look.

"Well… I don't kno--."

"Hey Kayla!" said a voice. Kayla turned around.

It was Mike. "Hey! Remember me?" he said, waving with one arm, and cradling a large amount of pokeballs in the other.

"Uh… Mike?" said Kayla, a little surprised to see him.

Mike walked up to the man and Kayla and dropped a bunch of pokeballs on the counter. There must have been at least twenty of them there.

"Wow…" said Kayla quietly. The man wasn't really exaggerating when he had told Kayla about the new trainers.

Mike looked at the man. "Hey, can I get these quickly. I need to get to the Viridian Forest before dark. I'm going to camp out tonight like Gary!" he said in his usual determined voice.

"Yeah sure," said the man in a bored voice. He went on to mumble about 'good for nothing kids'.

Mike turned to Kayla as the man counted the pokeballs. "So, you going to camp out in the woods too?" he asked, looking excited about the whole idea of camping.

Kayla blinked. "Well, I never really… um… thought about it. I just assumed that I would stay at the Pokemon Cent--."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. But then Gary and I saw each other at the Pokemon Center, and he was saying that he was going to stay in the forest tonight and catch a Pokemon considering there were none really between here and Pallet," said Mike very quickly. Kayla could easily tell that he was really energized by all of this. He was obviously ready for some action.

Charmander leaned over to Cubone, (Someone put extra sugar in that kid's Poke Berry juice…)

Cubone gave an annoyed look to Charmander, and moved a few inches away from him.

(What?) said Charmander, a little offended, (I was just trying to lighten the mood…)

"Oh… well, I guess… maybe we could too… maybe even the three of us could end up together," said Kayla hopefully. She still wanted another human to travel with even though she had two interesting pokemon to be with.

Mike shrugged, "I guess it's possible. The Viridian Forest isn't really that big. Well, you do what you want. Me, I've got someone to compete against. Oh yeah, and don't bother with the gym in this place. The gym leader is gone on some sort of vacation or something, so they're not letting anyone battle anyway. Some weirdo guy was there though wanting to check out the gym. I think he was an aide of Professor Oak's…"

"Mr. Quigley?" said Kayla, picturing his white lab coat.

"Hey kid! You gonna hurry up and pay or what? I thought you were in a hurry!" growled the mart man. Mike jumped.

"Oh yeah! Sorry. Well Kayla, gotta go!" he said, stuffing some bills into the man's hand. The man quickly counted them, and when everything was in order, Mike ran out the door, a strong wind in his wake.

(So are we going to camp out?) asked Charmander, hoping not. He had been looking forward to sleeping with human comforts.

"Well… I guess I'll buy that pokeball now, and then decide what to do…" she said, turning once again to the man at the counter.

Kayla purchased the lone pokeball, and Cubone willingly retreated into it in a surge of red light. But since Kayla wanted both her pokemon out with her to keep her company, she tossed Cubone's pokeball to release him again. However, the flash of light that came from the pokeball when Cubone was released was not the typical white color. Instead, a dark black light flashed, and Cubone was soon standing on the ground.

Kayla and Charmander stared.

"Um… why was the light black? Are you okay Cubone?" Kayla asked, feeling a bit creeped out.

Cubone nodded in his usual fashion, and seemed to just brush it off. He acted as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

Charmander raised an eyebrow. (That guy sold us a defective pokeball!)

(No,) said Cubone in a very grave tone, (I always appear in this way no matter what pokeball I am in…)

Charmander blinked. (Huh…?)

Kayla tried to ignore it. If Cubone thought there was nothing wrong, then she wouldn't worry about it. Besides, she had a big decision to make. "Hey you guys… do you think we should camp out?" asked Kayla, unsure of what to do.

Charmander thought for a moment. (But that means no soft pillows…)

(I think we should. You can never hope to understand how pokemon think until you have lived where they live,) said Cubone, nodding his head.

Charmander looked worried, (Well… I guess so… But let's spend a night in the next town please! I already think like a pokemon, so I don't need too much time in the woods…)

With Charmander's confirming nod, Kayla nodded too. "Alright… Good thing Grama dusted out that old sleeping bag for me. Looks like I'm going to need it."

Charmander's stomach growled angrily again. Charmander blushed.

Kayla laughed. "Maybe once we get a little ways into the woods, we can stop for some dinner. I've got some really tasty canned food."

Charmander licked his lips. (Are there Raviolis?) Things were looking up for him.

_A/N: Thanks for reading! Next chapter will feature some insane Butterfree, the reunion of Kayla, Mike and Gary, and a challenge from a familiar Samurai. Stay tuned!_


	6. Ch 6 Together Again!

**neogirl7900:** Heh, don't like canned raviolis? What about the homemade or restaurant kind? I think they're okay, though I used to like them much more when I was little. Now I just stare at the odd, hard black pieces of meat I occasionally find in them. It's kinda gross... Anyway, thanks for reading!

**Charcaol: **Yeah I haven't been camping in a loooong time. Whenever my family went camping my parents always made it a bit annoying by having to complain about—everything! Ugh... oh well, it was still fun. And I'm glad you like the story, thanks for the support.

**MorriganFearn:** O.O That's a big review! You type more than I do when I'm feeling verbose! But that's good, because I like reading long reviews. I'm glad you like my characters; considering it took me about two years to develop them to my liking (hopefully you like the rest that I have yet to introduce). Kayla, I think, seems real because I gave her one of my personality flaws: shyness. When I was in elementary school, I swear I was the shyest kid in the world. I know what being like that is like, so I decided to make Kayla like that too. After all, what writer doesn't put a bit of themselves into the characters he/she creates. When I first came up with this story, I wasn't going to include much of Gary, but after I started writing him, it just seemed so fun; so, I made him appear here and there. Like I think I've said before, Charmander is my favorite character. He's fun to write, and I gave him the job of being the one to lighten the mood when it gets down. Also, he does have something else to his personality, as you'll get a hint of in this very chapter! I like Cubone as well, because I just like cool, mysterious people like him. And we'll get to delve more into his personality a few chapters later. As for the three 'mystery pokemon' as you put them, we will eventually learn more about them, and yes, that was a Quilava. By the way, Quilava and Sneasel are two of my favorites as well! (Though I don't care much for the voices they have on the show... Quilava kinda sounds like a retarded Stitch from Lilo&Stitch...) Oh and thanks for the kudos. I'd better cut this short... it's turning into a chapter all its own! Hope ya' like the rest!

**Antithesis:** Nah, I wouldn't give the whole thing away that early on, where's the fun in that? Oh, and about Cubone's age: I was always curious as to how long pokemon live. I mean, nobody ever addresses it. They must die at some point, so they can't live too long. As for Cubone, he has a special reason he has lived for so long.

**ExuroFlamma:** Yes. Here you go! (gives cookies) My chapters will be getting longer. I swear the higher the chapter number, the longer it gets. I try to make them around 9-12 pages in Word, because I've found that most people like reading that length. Anyway, glad ya' like it so far!

_Disclaimer ('cause I keep forgetting):_ I do not own pokemon, nor do I want to really. I am actually quite content with owning very little. Though, my original characters are mine, ya' know.

**The Glass Half Full**

**Ch.6 Together Again!**

Now with the addition of Cubone to her group, Kayla was actually starting to feel a bit of confidence growing in her. She no longer felt timid about talking to Charmander, and although there were still a few things she didn't understand or know about Cubone; she felt comfortable with him because of the fact that he was her father's pokemon. The three of them walked side-by-side into the wooded area that was the Viridian Forest. Even though it was still quite light out, the sun was starting to get nearer to the horizon and Kayla knew that it must be getting close to night. But as they entered the dense forest, it quickly became as dark as nighttime, and Kayla checked the small clock she had in her pack.

"It's about 6," she said, putting it away in the pocket she had gotten it from.

Charmander's stomach growled, (Oh… can we eat now? My stomach's getting grumpy….) The bright flame on the tip of his tail weakening a bit.

Kayla chuckled, "Your stomach sounds like a Charizard!" She smiled; somehow, Charmander always made her laugh….

Charmander gave a fake laugh, (Eh heh heh heh. Charizard… that's a good one…) Then he fell silent.

Cubone raised an eyebrow, (Something wrong?)

Charmander ignored him.

As the three entered a small clearing in the heavily wooded area, Kayla looked around. They were in a field of tall and short grass. It reminded her a bit of the farm back home… Tufts of tall grass waved to her in the wind, and Kayla smelled the air as it blew by. She could see more of the sky in the field, and could now see that the sun was about to dip into the horizon. Soon night would be upon them even out in the open.

"We can stop here and eat I guess," she said, suddenly becoming aware of how hungry she was.

Charmander perked up, (Yay! I'm starved!)

The three of them sat down around a dry dirt spot in the clearing, and Cubone gathered some wood for a fire. Charmander dipped his glowing flame tail into the small mound of sticks, and soon enough, a small fire was going. Kayla heated up the Raviolis that Charmander was so hoping for in a small pot that she had packed for her journey. She passed out forks to both of her pokemon, and the three began to eat. Kayla brought out her PokeDex to look over, while Charmander and Cubone talked to each other.

(Hey Pops, there's something I don't get about that weird Oak tree you lived in,) mumbled Charmander, his mouth full of Raviolis.

(And that is…?) said Cubone, watching Charmander.

(Well, why were there no pokemon around it? I mean, why were they all so afraid? When Kayla and I walked by it, we both felt really scared, like there was something there… something evil…)

Cubone paused for a moment, silence filled the air; that same feeling that Charmander had just been describing….

(The pokemon of that area know to stay clear from my tree. In the past, I was merciless to those that entered my territory…) he trailed off, leaving Charmander shivering.

(Uh… uh… yeah…) said Charmander, trying to smile; although what he really wanted to do was grab Kayla and run far away. Cubone was starting to scare him.

Cubone closed his eyes for a moment, (I am sorry; I did not mean to scare you. My past has not been a very nice one. Perhaps someday I will tell you the story, but not tonight…)

Charmander looked unconvinced.

Cubone grabbed a piece of ravioli with the fork Kayla had given him. (Trust me, I would never hurt anyone close to my Master…)

_Beep! Cubone, the Lonely Pokemon. It is said that Cubone wear the skull from their deceased mothers…. No human has ever seen their true faces. Compassion seems to be something that most wild Cubone lack. They tend to want to be alone for a great deal of the time, and generally do not care about others' feelings. However, with much training and taming, Cubone can become excellent companions. Cubone evolve into Marowak at level 36. This Cubone is at level 42. Its attacks are: Skull Bash, Focus Energy, Thrash, and Seismic Toss. This Cubone is unreadable by this PokeDex in the area of stats._

"Hmm… that's weird…" said Kayla, giving a puzzled look to Dextra. She shrugged, "I guess there are still a lot of things I need to learn about you Mr. Cubone."

Cubone sat silently.

(Level 42? Oh that makes _me _look real powerful…) whined Charmander; he was only still at the skill level that he started with.

Cubone waved his hand as if to dismiss Charmander's comment, (I have been on many journeys in my lifetime. Yours has just begun. It is understandable that I am at such a high level.)

Kayla fiddled with the PokeDex some more and then pointed it at Charmander...

_Beep! Charmander, the Lizard Pokemon. If a Charmander's tail flame ever goes out, it will perish. They typically enjoy spicy and bitter food, and can be very loyal to their trainers. They evolve into the very popular Charizard. Push the green button for more on this pokemon's evolution. This Charmander is at level 5. Its attacks are: Scratch and Growl. This Charmander's stats are as follows: High Attack, Low Defense, High Special, and Medium Speed._

"Push the green button? Okay sure, I'd love to see what Charmander evolves into," said Kayla, recalling the Charizard window on the door to Professor Oak's lab.

_Charmander evolve into Charmeleon at level 16, and then into Charizard at level 36. However, as with certain types of pokemon, the Charmander evolutionary line gets more and more difficult to handle as they evolve. Caution for those who evolve their Charmander; they can become very uncooperative and even mean-spirited when they evolve into Charmeleon. Some trainers have even reported their Charmander as completely changing in every aspect of their personality when they evolved._

"Wow…" said Kayla, trying to imagine Charmander as mean-spirited. She just couldn't do it. How can someone end up being a horrible mean-spirited person when they started out so nice?

Charmander stared off into space, his mind clearly thinking deeply.

Cubone watched him carefully. There was something Charmander was obviously hiding on this subject…

Kayla could sense Charmander's tenseness too, so she decided to put away the PokeDex, and talk to Charmander. "Like your Raviolis?" she asked with a smile.

Charmander looked up, (Yeah!) he said happily, stuffing another spoonful in his mouth.

Kayla laughed, "I'm glad."

The sun was now setting on the horizon, painting beautiful pink and gold colors dancing across the sky. Some Butterfree were visible flying across the other side of the field.

"Well…" said Kayla, surveying the land around them, "I guess this looks like a good spot to camp out, it's a nice flat field; it'll be perfect. I'm glad we decided to camp out like Gary and Mike. I forgot how fun it is…."

Charmander nodded, although he still wanted pillows…

(May I return to my pokeball to sleep,) asked Cubone, preferring some time alone to think. He had a lot on his mind right this minute, and some silence and seclusion was just what he needed. He walked up to Kayla so that he could motion that he wanted to be returned; but he paused, unsure of where she kept her pokeballs.

Kayla yawned. Even if it was only early in the evening, she still was very tired. So much had happened in one day that she was completely done in. She nodded to Cubone and pulled out his pokeball from the front pocket of her pack.

"Sure you can… return Cubone," she said sleepily.

Cubone's eyes widened in mild surprise, then disappeared as the red light engulfed him.

"Well, looks like it's just the two of us again Charmander," said Kayla, smiling at her tiny pokemon. She reached over to grab something out of her pack. As she did do she heard an odd noise… like the soft flapping of wings…

Charmander smiled back, (Yep. Hey! Since we have a fire, let's roast some weenie--!) He stopped abruptly.

"What's wrong?" asked Kayla, her hand digging in her pack to find her lantern.

(Look out!) yelled Charmander, pointing to behind Kayla, his eyes widening in fear.

Kayla turned around, her hand still in her pack, "Huh?"

What met Kayla's eyes as she turned around to see what was spooking Charmander was a small group of three Butterfree! There was one Butterfree in the front that appeared to be the leader. Its eyes narrowed in a malicious stare at Kayla and Charmander.

Kayla was stunned into silence. Butterfree had always looked so cute and harmless to her, but now they hovered before her looking ready to attack! She searched her mind frantically to figure out what she had done to anger them, but could come up with nothing.

"What did I do wrong?" she asked the Butterfree leader quickly.

(Yeah man! Don't hurt us!) squeaked Charmander, his voice beginning to crack again.

The leader began to talk, but to Kayla's mind, it just sounded like Butterfree noises. She could feel panic beginning to rise in her; how was she supposed to answer back!

(You have trespassed on our land and you _dare_ to ask what it is you have done!) yelled the angry leader, his wings beating rapidly to match his anger.

(Mister…,) quaked Charmander, knowing it was he who had to answer, since Kayla couldn't understand him, (Whatever we did, we didn't mean to…! All we did was build a fire to--!)

The three Butterfree all gasped in horror, mumbling angrily to themselves.

The leader turned to Kayla and Charmander again, (You fools! Building a fire in a forest and in a field full of grass and flammable material! Imbeciles! You could have burned up the entire forest! This is why _we're_ here. We dispose of ignorant fools like yourselves, which is not always easy, nor do we catch everyone… But now that you've further proven your ignorance, _and rudeness_, we shall do what we must!) he turned to the other two Butterfree behind him, (Company, attack!)

Charmander shook violently, (Oh great…! Kayla, I don't think they're going to listen, so let's just RUN!) He leaped up and grabbed at Kayla to pull her up.

Kayla, feeling very in the dark about what was going on, leapt up when Charmander pulled up on her and began to run with him further into the field. Her heart began to beat quickly, and she realized how fast she could actually run when needing to. Charmander, despite his small stature, was actually keeping up with her quite well.

The Butterfree continued to pursue them for quite some ways, and every time Kayla turned her head to look back, it seemed as if they had gotten closer. They looked twice as intimidating with the now deep red and orange colors of the late sunset shinning all over their faces and wings. Kayla kept running and running, now into the forest again, branches hitting her legs and arms as she sprinted past trees and bushes. She stepped hard on a spot that was particularly muddy, and dirt and mud splashed up the side of her overalls.

"When will… they… give… up?" Kayla panted as they ran along.

Charmander jumped a bit as he ran to keep up, (I don't know… but I hope it's soon!)

After a few more seconds, the Butterfree stopped, and watched as Kayla and Charmander continued to run, even though they had stopped chasing them. The two had been running so fast, that the Butterfree were actually getting quite tired.

Kayla slowed a bit, and when she noticed that the Butterfree were gone, she stopped and caught her breath. Charmander collapsed on the ground, muttering something about water. The darkness of the dense forest around them would have been very uninviting under normal conditions, but after being chased by angry Butterfree, anything was better.

Kayla sat in silence for a moment, trying to figure out what had just happened, when she noticed that she could hear voices…

"Hey…" she said to Charmander, who was still lying on the ground, "Do you hear that? It sounds kinda like Mike…"

Which it did. Kayla got up slowly, and began to walk over to where the voices were coming from; the mud in her now brown shoe squishing as she stepped.

"Ha!" said Gary, snatching a pokeball from the ground, "Capture number five! This Pidgey feels like a winner too!"

Mike pouted, his arms folded tightly, "Well, I saw a lot of cool pokemon too, including a Pikachu, but I, uh, decided to let them go."

Gary's dark brown eyes narrowed, "Right."

"But I did! I saw them right--," he paused, "Oh, hi Kayla!" He smiled, anything to get him out of explaining his capture failures to Gary.

Kayla stepped out from behind the prickly berry bushes to see Mike standing next to a triumphantly smiling Gary, and a small campfire between them. Kayla blushed as she suddenly realized that these were other human beings she was about to talk to, people that she wanted to be friends with, and she began attempting to dust the dirt and mud off of her overalls in a nonchalant way…

"Oh, uh, hi you guys…" said Kayla, her usual timid demeanor returning.

She was about to ask what kinds of pokemon they had caught so far, when suddenly a soft flapping noise was audible.

Charmander jumped out from the bushes, (They came back! They say that they can see and smell a fire over here too! And boy do they look angry!)

He stopped cold in front of Gary and Mike's fire.

(Waah! Put that thing out you crazies! You're going to get us all killed!) he yelled, frantically kicking dirt all over the small flames.

Gary started, "Hey! What's your Charmander doin' to my fire!"

Kayla shook her head slowly, "Uh… I don't--," and suddenly turned around, hearing the flapping noise get louder, "Ahh!"

Gary and Mike both gave a confused look, "Huh?"

Kayla jumped up, "R-run!" She started running again, further into the forest, Charmander at her heels.

At first Gary and Mike didn't follow them, unsure of what was going on. Soon enough though, they joined the chase. Kayla looked behind her.

"Keep running!" yelled Gary to them all, "I think we've got 'em on the run!"

The leader Butterfree noticed this too and he started to fly faster to cut them off ahead so that they couldn't escape.

Kayla stopped abruptly, the leader blocking her path; and his expression one of exhaustion and rage.

(You will pay for your inconsiderate actions humans! One fire is excusable, but you have gone too far by adding another!) he said, readying an attack. A small, rainbow-colored glowing ball of energy began to form in front of his mandibles. It twisted and spun, making itself larger as the seconds went by.

"It's a Psybeam attack!" yelled Gary in awe. Kayla whimpered.

(Yes, and you'll be first little human girl,) said the leader in a dangerous tone.

Gary and Mike were frozen with both awe and fear. Despite what they had seen in movies and on television, they had never been in a dangerous situation like this before…

(I don't think so!) cried Charmander, taking a large leap straight up in the air so that his eyes were level to the leader's. He curled his tiny sharp claws, and swiped as hard as he could, his nails ripping the top layer of the Butterfree's exoskeleton.

As the leader cried in pain and surprise, Gary shook his head and came out of his temporary freeze, "Let's get outta here! Follow me!" He ran off into an even darker part of the forest, and Mike and Kayla followed without hesitation.

When the four of them were far enough away, they sat down on the ground to take a break. By now it was well into the darkness of night, and the only reason Kayla could see five feet in front of her was because of Charmander's flame tail. All of the moonlight was being blocked by the trees of the forest.

Kayla heaved a sigh. Would she ever get some sleep?

"Do you think they're gone?" asked Mike, as he peered around the small area they were all sitting in.

Gary looked up, "Are you kidding? They'd better be gone! I don't feel like running anymore…."

Kayla raised her head. "Do you guys hear something?" she asked them, looking towards Mike.

The sound of crunching leaves came from a bush behind Mike. He jumped up. "Oh man! Please, don't Psybeam my head off!" he pleaded, closing his eyes and covering his head with his hands.

But there were no Butterfree stepping out from behind the bush; just a boy. He wore what closely resembled an ancient Japanese Samurai suit. The detailed armor was hard to see in the diminished light, but Kayla could still tell that it was very beautiful craftsmanship.

A quick and sharp voice came from below the three-pointed helmet, "I am the Samurai of the Forest. I have come to challenge the four trainers from Pallet. I wish to learn more about the ways of pokemon battling. On my own I can only learn so much, but with others I can learn so much more. Now… which of you is the strongest?"

The three trainers all looked at each other; stunned once again into a moment of silence…

_A/N: Thanks again for reading! Next time will feature Kayla (and Charmander's) first battle! Which means we get to see how the little lizard does. Stay tuned!_


	7. Ch 7 Charmander's First Battle

**neogirl7900:** OMG! Okay that is really gross… Seriously, over the years I have become increasingly grossed out by foods done by Chef Boyardee. Everytime I look in the cupboard and that's the only thing I see I'm like, "Mmmft… oh alright… I guess I'll have lunch…." Anyway, Misty's sisters are evil aren't they! No wonder she left them in the first place. Too bad she's stuck with them again… Maybe she'll get sick of them like before and leave the gym again! (Probably not though… which really sucks for us Misty fans.)

**Antithesis:** Yes, Beedrill always get the bad rap, so I thought for once that Butterfree needed a dark side to them! Hee hee. And the Butterfree are crazy; they're not supposed to make perfect sense. So don't worry, your logic-questioning was right on the mark.

_Disclaimer (Hey! I remembered it!): _I do not own Pokemon, Charmander, or Cubone. I don't even own a car. I did own a cookie, but then I ate it; so, meh, I got nothin'. Though, my original characters are mine though; through and through.

**The Glass Half Full**

**Ch.7 Charmander's First Battle**

Gary practically leaped forward, "I am!"

Mike suddenly stepped forward, his eyebrows frowning, "What! I think I'm the best suited to accept, you've already got plenty of 'prestige' from capturing all those pokemon! I wanna do something!"

Gary chuckled, "Heh, I don't think so! I'm not passing up this opportunity to battle! It will be my first real challenge!"

Samurai walked past them as they argued, and stopped shortly in front of Kayla, who was silently watching Gary and Mike's argument. He wasn't impressed in the least at their display of emotions. "I will challenge you first. Although they may claim to be the strongest, I believe that people who talk very little, are sometimes the wisest, most powerful opponents."

"Uh… okay, I guess," said Kayla, her voice tiny and slightly fearful. The armor that the boy wore was very intimidating, and Kayla had no idea what she might be up against…

"HUH!" yelled Mike and Gary in unison.

"Yes," replied Samurai, pulling out a small lantern from a large gray pack he was carrying with him. After turning it on and up to its full strength, he walked a few feet away and placed the lantern on the ground.

Kayla sighed with a small bit of relief; she wouldn't have been too keen about having to battle in the darkness.

"We will use one pokemon each. Choose your pokemon now. I shall use my newest capture-- Caterpie!" he called, tossing his pokeball to the ground after stepping back a few paces. A bright flash of white light lit up the surrounding area, and then in its wake a small, green caterpillar stood, sporting a relatively tough look for something so cute. It's eyes had an eager, determined look to them, and it swayed the pink antenna on its head back and forth, readying itself for some battling.

Kayla suddenly realized that she was now in her first pokemon battle. She had seen countless battles on television, in real life, and even dreamed them up before; but this would be her first time of actually doing it… She needed some sort of strategy, and she needed it fast. She searched her mind for anything about Caterpie that would help her; but the only thing she could think of were the wild Caterpie that lived around her grandmother's farm… and the trouble they always gave the cattle…

"Well…?" called Samurai, looking annoyed by Kayla's hesitation.

She nervously looked down at her pack, where Cubone's pokeball resided, but then she saw Charmander standing by her side. Fire always has the advantage over bug type pokemon, and besides, Charmander hadn't battled before; this would be good experience for him.

"I choose, um, Charmander," she said, trying to feel confident, and failing. Charmander's head perked up.

(What! I get to battle! Well then, I'll be sure to do my best!) he said happily, jumping out into the space in front of Kayla. It gave a friendly wave to the squishy bug across the way, (First battle too?) he called happily. It would be nice to know that he was not the only beginner.

The Caterpie narrowed its eyes, (Don't talk to me. I must concentrate on the battle ahead….)

Charmander blinked. (Well, just bein' friendly,) it said, feeling slightly put out. He then wondered to himself; was it against the rules to talk during a battle?

Samurai was looking a bit worried, knowing what a Charmander can do to a Caterpie with just one blast of an Ember attack; but after a few moments of thought, his frown quickly dissolved into a smile.

"Heh, your Charmander is at what level?" he asked.

"What? Oh… um, level 5," replied Kayla, blushing a bit, and hoping she wouldn't get laughed at.

Gary snickered, Mike stifled laughter. Even his Bulbasaur had leveled up a bit since he had walked in the forest.

"Novice! This will be easy! Your Charmander is a fire type pokemon, but without a fire attack, you'll be hard-pressed to defeat me!" laughed Samurai, his confidence overflowing, "Caterpie! String shot!"

(Right my Master,) piped Caterpie, sounding very obedient. Caterpie threw back its tiny green head, and tensed up its body; then threw itself forward and released a steady stream of white string from its stubby mouth. The sticky web attached itself all over Charmander's stomach, arms, and legs. He looked as if he had been attacked by silly string wielding teenagers! Kayla's eyes widened with recognition.

(Ewww…! This is so gross!) yelled Charmander, bending down to grab the stuff off.

Kayla called urgently to Charmander, "No! Wait don't pick it off! If you do, your hands will get all sticky too, and then you'll be so busy trying to get it off that you won't see its next attack!"

Charmander did as he was told and resisted touching the sticky web; though it was quite annoying.

Gary blinked, "What? You mean you can tell your pokemon to do that kind of stuff? I always just figured an attack like that could never be stopped." He was a bit impressed; though only a _bit_. Mike brought out a pad and pencil from the dark blue backpack on his back.

"What are you doing?" asked Gary, giving Mike a look of utmost disbelief.

"Huh? Oh, I'm taking notes," he replied, scribbling down words about String Shot.

Gary rolled his eyes. "Whatever…! That's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. What trainer takes notes? I just keep everything in my head."

It was now Mike's turn to roll his eyes. "Well let me just bow to your genius!" he said sarcastically, continuing to write his notes.

"Um… could you do a Scratch attack?" asked Kayla, feeling a bit less confident than when she had said her warning to Charmander a few seconds earlier.

Charmander nodded and curled his claws as he had before with the Butterfree leader. He darted up to Caterpie, hoping that he would get there before Caterpie could use another attack.

Samurai called to his pokemon, "Caterpie! That String Shot should have slowed it down, attack with a Tackle!"

Caterpie nodded in agreement, but Charmander was too quick for it. Soon enough his nails had sunk into the Caterpie's soft skin, and Caterpie let out a cry.

"What! How did String Shot not effect its speed!" Samurai said in surprise.

Kayla looked up at Samurai, "I used to live on a farm. The wild Caterpie around my grandmother's Miltank and Tauros used to spray String Shot as a defense mechanism. So I was always seeing them get hit with it. They would want to try to attack the Caterpie back, but since the sticky web on them was so annoying, they became obsessed with trying to get it off. The Caterpie would then have time to run away, and then my grandmother and I would have to wash it off of the livestock. So when Charmander got hit with the string, I figured that if he didn't bother with it, it wouldn't effect his speed as much."

"I see…" said Samurai, smiling at Kayla, "Very wise. As I had predicted."

Kayla blushed a bit. She had hoped her first battle would be a good one, and not full of blunders and failure. She ordered another Scratch, as Samurai ordered a Tackle.

Charmander charged at the small green pokemon, but the little worm seemed determined to at least get one good attack in.

It came racing up to Charmander. (Out of my way! My Master wishes to win this battle, and I'm not about to let him down! I underestimated you before, and it won't happen again!) the little bug whispered dangerously.

Charmander hesitated for a moment, the Caterpie's determination had caught him off guard, and he soon paid for it in a painful way. The ball-shaped head of the small pokemon rammed into Charmander's mid-section. Charmander staggered backwards, clutching his stomach.

(Oh… those Raviolis… if I'd have known I was gonna battle… I wouldn't have eaten so much…,) he groaned, wobbling as he tried to regain his lost footing.

Kayla frowned. If she was going to win this battle, she would have to act fast. The tiny Caterpie couldn't be much higher than Charmander, so maybe one more Scratch, but winning didn't mean anything to her if Charmander was feeling so bad…

"Charmander? Are you okay?" she asked him, feeling a bit concerned about how nauseous he was looking.

Charmander nodded his head slowly and took a deep breath. He didn't want to fumble his first battle either.

Kayla searched her mind quickly of what she could possibly do to stop Caterpie's advances. Charmander really didn't look like he could take much more, and she just knew that Samurai would order another Tackle. She thought of Charmander's other attack; Growl. If she used Growl, then maybe Caterpie's attack power would be weakened enough to not take Charmander out.

"Charmander?" Kayla asked softly, "Do you think you're up for a Growl attack…?"

Charmander nodded again, attempting to quell his sloshing stomach.

Samurai had heard Kayla's conversation and began to chuckle loudly, "You novices never surprise me! My Caterpie has your Charmander on the run; no mere defensive attack would help you! Caterpie! A final Tackle attack!"

Kayla looked a bit worried; but she had already made up her mind.

"Charmander, if you would please, a Growl attack!" she called, hoping she had done so in time.

Charmander nodded; still holding his stomach with one hand, and took in a deep breath.

Caterpie was the one to pause now; the little pokemon was easily intimidated by evil growls, and was unsure of what Charmander's would sound like.

"Rraaaahhhhrrrr!" growled Charmander, using all his strength. But his growl did not sound menacing, nor was it very deep. Charmander's tiny voice had created a squeaky, high-pitched squeal that more resembled a baby pig's growl rather than a vicious lizard's.

But it had done its job. Caterpie's attack force had been lowered; in fact, it had been lowered so much that it had stopped attacking completely. Instead it had started laughing!

Mike and Gary were also laughing, tears of joy forming at the corners of their eyes.

Samurai just stood there emotionless. His pokemon had stopped in mid-attack, and this was not what he wanted.

(What!) squeaked Charmander, feeling himself blush, (I growled didn't I!)

"Charmander," called Kayla, for she was not laughing either; she didn't want to make Charmander feel embarrassed more than he already was, "Can you please use a Scratch attack?"

Charmander shook off his embarrassment, nodded, and gave another swipe at Caterpie. Caterpie didn't even see the lizard coming, for it was still laughing so hard about the 'growl' that it's eyes were closed all the way. It opened them just as Charmander's tiny nails began to graze its skin. It tried to wriggle away, but Charmander had it. And with a final cry of both pain and laughter, the small worm was down for the count.

(We did it! We did it!) cried Charmander, forgetting his embarrassment for a few moments. He jumped up and down happily.

"Wow…" said Kayla, feeling the tension that had been building release her from its hold, "That was a little intense wasn't it?" She smiled down at Charmander. She would have to remember to give him a special treat of some kind for being so brave…

Samurai returned his injured Caterpie. "Very well. I see I still have a lot to learn. You used a defensive attack when I could have easily used one as well. But I didn't. I had no idea that defensive attacks could be used in that manner. You may go now, and please, take this as a prize for defeating me."

He handed her a small bottle. It was a light blue color with a small window that showcased the liquid contents of the inside. The round nozzle on the front looked like it could spray like a squirt bottle.

Samurai nodded as Kayla looked the object over. "This is a Potion. It will heal any pokemon's lost energy," he paused, "I hope to battle you someday once again," he said, then extended his hand.

Kayla timidly, but happily, shook his hand, and then watched Samurai turn to Mike and Gary.

"Who is to be next?" he asked, making it seem as if he had been the victor and was now free to be challenged.

Gary and Mike began to fight over who was to go next, and Samurai told them to draw straws.

Kayla looked down at Charmander again, who appeared to be exhausted from running and battling, and decided to go find somewhere to sleep. Charmander was sitting on the ground holding his stomach, his eyelids beginning to slowly creep down…

"Come on Charmander, let's go to bed," she said, patting him on the head.

As much as she wanted to see Gary and Mike's battle skills, she knew that getting some sleep and giving Charmander some peace and quiet was the top priority. They started to walk away from the battle scene; Gary and Mike's arguing still audible.

_A/N: Hope you guys liked it. I tried my best to keep it interesting with such low-level attacks. Next chapter will bring a couple new characters into the story, and make things a bit more dangerous! So stay tuned!_


	8. Ch 8 Zephyr and Marilu

**Antithesis:** Thanks, I did work hard to make the battle somewhat intriguing. I agree with you though, most of the battles in fan fiction are kinda… meh… boring to read. I always try to make something odd/interesting go on besides the actual attacks.

**Digi Fan: **Thank you! I appreciate your kind words.

**neogirl7900: **Yeah! Why would you want to be eaten? I certainly would not. Anyway, thanks for another review! Yes, poor Charmander, he's like a Jigglypuff; how do you act intimidating when you're just so cute? And I agree about Misty's sisters! I was soooo ticked-off when I found out that they made her leave. They always just act like she's some sort of toy to make do what they want. Too annoying.

**Maia's Pen:** Heh, thanks for reading! Yes, I enjoy giving Gary things to say. I totally think he deserved a bigger part in the anime. And now he's like not Ash's rival anymore… or whatever. And he's like… nice. Ugh. I liked old, snide, never impressed Gary.

**MorriganFearn who is too lazy to login:** Thanks for another long review! (Really, I do like those). And thanks for the compliments. Mike and Gary's arguing is something I do enjoy writing so there'll always be some of that to read (well, as long as they're with Kayla). Charmander evolving indeed. We'll see about that… someday. (Tee hee) Anyway, hope ya' like the next chapters as well.

_Disclaimer (Hey! I remembered it again!): I DO own Pokemon! No, actually that was just a joke, I don't own it, Nintendo, Game Freak, and something else I can't remember does. Oh wait! Creatures, that's who else owns it. And I think there's even a Pokemon Company now if I'm not mistaken._

**The Glass Half Full**

**Ch.8 Zephyr and Marilu**

"Well guys… do you think maybe I should catch a pokemon?" asked Kayla, surveying the land around them. It was early morning, and the trio was still in the dense Viridian Forest. Tress surrounded them, and the few light rays that were making it down to the forest floor were dim and gave the appearance of a heavily cloudy day.

Kayla had been remembering that Gary had caught his fifth pokemon; which suddenly reminded her that she hadn't caught any yet. There was Cubone, but he wasn't caught; he willingly joined her. She shook her head slowly as she thought about it. She didn't really want to force any pokemon to join up with her if it didn't want to. She decided to bring it up to see what her pokemon thought. After all, they would know better than her.

(I think you should catch at least one!) squeaked Charmander, his energy had obviously improved since the night before.

(I agree. Pokemon training is not just about battling, but about catching as well,) spoke Cubone, nodding his head as he did so.

Kayla nodded reluctantly, "So you guys think I should? I can't really understand you."

Cubone and Charmander both nodded.

As they finished nodding, a flapping sound was heard. Kayla and the others turned to where the sound was coming from, just in time to see a brown and sandy colored lump of feathers crash land onto Charmander's head!

(Aaahhh! Get her off! Get her off!) panicked Charmander. He began running around in circles, reaching with his short arms to the top of his head.

(Stop jumping around you fool; it's only a Pidgey,) warned Cubone, as he put down his bony weapon on top of a clump of grass.

(Easy for you to say!) yelled Charmander, the Pidgey still flapping wildly on his head.

Cubone gingerly placed his thick, brown arms around the Pidgey's body, careful to mind her wings, and removed her from the top of Charmander's head. Kayla kneeled down to see the three pokemon.

"Are you okay Charmander?" she asked the tiny lizard, who had collapsed onto the ground and was now panting from the excitement.

Charmander nodded, then looked over to the Pidgey that Cubone had removed. She had calmed down a lot, and was now sitting peacefully, looking up at Cubone with giant blue eyes.

Kayla had always been amazed at how smoothly the light brown feathers on Pidgey blended into the dark brown feathers. Most trainers considered them 'beginning' pokemon, but Kayla thought that they were beautiful, potentially powerful pokemon. This was also how her grandmother had always felt as well. Obviously this one was a young Pidgey, that had just begun to learn how to fly, and had experienced an unexpected fall.

"H-Hi there," said Kayla, addressing the Pidgey.

(Hi!) she responded, turning her head to look at Kayla; but as soon as she had answered, her head turned back to Cubone.

(Thank you so much for saving me from that big, scary Charmander!) she chirped loudly to the skulled pokemon.

(Your welcome,) said Cubone, picking up his bone. He turned away from the Pidgey, becoming uninterested.

The Pidgey hopped over to face Cubone again. (You know, I'm all alone out here, and it's been a long time since I've had a friend…. Hey I know! Guess what I'm thinking!)

Cubone blinked, he didn't like interacting with new people, and he certainly didn't like interacting with children.

(What?) he said gruffly, hoping that once the Pidgey told him, she would go away.

(Maybe your trainer could catch me, and that way I wouldn't be alone anymore! I could be with, um, you--I mean, uh, you're so strong, and maybe you could protect me and stuff!) she finished, batting her eyes at him.

(Ewww! She likes him!) said Charmander, looking disgusted.

(I-I do not!) she snapped back, looking very bothered by Charmander's comment.

(I… you're too young for me little one…,) said Cubone, caught off guard a bit. The concept of love was something he had always tried to stay far away from.

The Pidgey ignored his response, and hopped up to Kayla. She threw a determined look at the human, and flapped her wings to show she wanted to battle. Kayla blinked.

"Well, I guess this is the pokemon I'm going to try and catch. Um…," she thought quickly of who to use. Cubone was at such a high level, he would probably knock out the thing after one attack.

"Charmander, would you like to battle the Pidgey?" she asked the lizard, smiling a bit.

Charmander jumped, (Sure! As long as she doesn't fly on my head again. That kinda freaked me out.)

Cubone sat down nearby and looked at the soft ground below him. (Love,) he mumbled, thinking deeply, his old memories playing back to him like a movie……

_A bright-faced Pidgey sat beside him nervously and peered at him out of the corner of her eye nervously._

_(Yes…?) he asked, turning to look at her._

_(Oh! Um, well, I-I was just kinda wondering if maybe I could ask you a- a question?) she responded, her voice going quickly and shakily._

_(What is it?) he said plainly. He had little desire to be bothered with answering trivial questions._

_(Why- why did you save me from the Kadabra?) she asked, her shaky voice now mixing with curiosity._

_His eyes widened. Why did she care to know? And what business of hers was it anyway? She should just be grateful and leave him alone. (Because my Master would have been how you say, ' saddened' if you had died,) he lied._

_He trailed off into silence, beginning to think to himself again. The truth was, he didn't really know why he had saved her. Before, he would have let any pokemon die; and wouldn't have cared either. Why was it that this Pidgey would be any different?_

_She smiled at him. (Well, thank you. I'll tell you the truth though. When I first met you, I thought you were, um, evil. But now; now I see that there's a side to you I didn't see before. Again, uh, thank you, Cubone….)_

_She gave one last look, then flapped her beautifully graceful wings, and took off to go over to her master that sat a few feet away, eating lunch with Cubone's master. Cubone watched as she left. (Another side…?)_

"Okay Charmander, could you please use a Scratch attack?" Kayla's voice rang out, "Oh, and could you try and be extra careful? She's probably not at as high a level as you."

Cubone looked up to see Charmander nod. Why was it that he was spending time focusing on the past when he should be thinking of the future?

Charmander curled his tiny claws and leaped over to the Pidgey.

(I don't wanna hurt you too much, so I'll hold back a bit!) he called as he prepared to swipe at the Pidgey.

Pidgey just stood there, letting the attack come at her. Charmander stopped abruptly before he could swipe her. Why didn't she move?

(Hey! What's up? Are you okay?) he asked, stopping his attack and feeling confused.

(Yes. Now hurry! I want you to give it all you've got!) the Pidgey said to him, glancing quickly at Cubone.

Charmander shrugged, (Okay… weird,) and leaped at the defenseless bird. He still didn't want to give it his all; he was afraid to knock her out. As his nails grazed the top feathers of the Pidgey, she flew up with a velocity that was unexpected of a young Pidgey.

She landed back on top of the fiery lizard's head, and perched herself there calmly as if waiting for someone to bring her some food. Charmander didn't like this, and began flailing his arms in a panicked attempt to get her down. She flew off a second later.

(That's for holding back!) she said, winking at him with a smile. Charmander ignored his previous orders of going easy on her, and curled his claws to swipe. He ran up to her with all his speed, and this time took a harder swipe at her. But she jumped back at the last second, and all Charmander's claws scratched were a few feathers…

_(He's never going to weaken me with that kind of speed!) _the Pidgey thought to herself,_ (I'll have to help him along a bit….)_

Charmander shook his head. (Oh, I missed!) he cried, hitting himself on the head, but then he heard a cry.

(Ahhh!) the Pidgey cried loudly. She twirled around after with her wings spread out, and cried in agony.

Charmander blinked. (I barely hit you…,) he said softly, wondering if he had gotten stronger than he thought.

The Pidgey threw herself to the ground, crying out as she did so and covering her head with her right wing. (Oh the agony!) she yelled out, (I-I can't go on!) And with that, she heaved one last deep breath, and then went unconscious.

"Oh my…," gasped Kayla. She didn't know that capturing pokemon would be so horribly dramatic. She reached into her pack for a pokeball to catch the Pidgey with, but suddenly to her horror she realized that she had no pokeball!

"Ah! I don't have anything to catch her in!" she said, her face growing worried.

The Pidgey opened an eye halfway. (What's taking so long! Catch me already!) she whispered, awaiting the feeling of going into a pokeball for the first time.

"Here, take one of mine!" a voice said from behind Kayla. She turned around to see a familiar face. Mike stood behind her, apparently watching the whole battle take place. Kayla blushed. Great, now she looked both inexperienced and unprepared….

"T-Thank you…," she said nervously, taking the pokeball that Mike had extended out to her.

She tossed the shiny red and white ball toward the Pidgey; then magically it corrected its course so that it would come in contact with the bird pokemon. The ball didn't shake once, and immediately the small white dot stopped glowing a red color. The Pidgey had been caught. Kayla walked over to pick up her new pokemon.

She raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know I could throw that good," she said, looking surprised.

Mike laughed a bit, "Heh, it wasn't you. Pokeballs automatically know where to go. Cool, huh? I guess technology has come a long way. Well, congrats on catching the Pidgey. I just got through catching a Pikachu over there myself," he finished, dusting off his shirt trying to look impressive.

Kayla congratulated him for catching his Pikachu, and asked him how his battle with Samurai went.

"Oh that. Well, I won him. But it wasn't easy. Lucky you got his Caterpie, because I got stuck with his Pinsir. Man was that hard! Bulbasaur almost didn't make it. But after he woke up, things got a lot better. Gary went up against him last and had to deal with the same Caterpie you did. The guy used a revive on it so that it could battle, and the little bug ended up evolving halfway through the battle with Gary's Squirtle. Too bad you didn't see it. Anyway, Gary didn't seem to care that it was a Metapod, and almost underestimated it. It's too bad he didn't! Then I would have looked better…."

Kayla nodded, not really listening. She was thinking of Gary's horrible Squirtle. She shook her head, hoping to never have to deal with a pokemon like that again.

"Well, I'd better get going. I promised Bulbasaur that I'd give him some training today for sure. Besides, I wanted to find Gary and show him my Pikachu. He hasn't caught one yet!" he said with a childish ring to his voice.

He waved to Kayla, and she watched as he walked off onto a small dirt path back into the eastern part of the woods.

(Hello…? Earth to Pops, Earth to Pops!) said Charmander, waving a claw in front of Cubone.

(I am fine. Please remove your hand from my face,) replied Cubone, giving Charmander a threatening look. Charmander stopped.

Cubone walked up to Kayla, and gave her a look that said he wanted to retire to his pokeball for a while.

"What is it Mr. Cubo-- oh! You want back in your ball?" she asked, getting the picture.

Cubone nodded, and soon enough was engulfed by the bright red light and sent back into his ball. Kayla looked at Pidgey's ball.

"We'll have to get her to a Pokemon Center before I let her back out. I don't want to make her any more tired than she already is; I think…," she said to Charmander. She smiled as she put away the two pokeballs. "Well, looks like it's just us two again," she said, looking down at her starter pokemon.

(Yep,) said Charmander, looking back up at her, (Shall we?) He pointed his arm to the path they had been following.

"Let's go," said Kayla happily. She sighed. Things were really going quite well. And here she thought that her journey would be failure after failure. The sun was shinning brightly through the trees now, and Kayla was feeling truly happy for the first time since leaving home.

--------------------------------------------

"Let's steal their pokemon!" whispered a girl's voice. It sounded almost like a snooty, excited hiss.

"What! But Marilu… that's not our job," said a boy's voice. He sounded astonished that she would even suggest such a thing.

"So what if it's not our job!" she yelled, standing up, "I'm tired of doing this grunt-work and kiddy stuff! I want to show them all that we are ready to be an essential part of Team Rocket! Just because we're not old enough doesn't mean we can't handle it!"

She was dressed in a black skirt that went down to her knees. She wore small ankle-high black boots on her feet, and short black gloves on her hands to match. The long-sleeved black shirt she wore came to an arrow shape at the bottom that seemed to point to her legs. The deep auburn "R" on the front of her shirt looked a much browner shade of red than the usual Team Rocket uniforms. But the dark clothing seemed to match her icy blue eyes and sharp, spiky, forest green ponytail centered on the middle of the back of her head. Her eyes glowed with a malicious stare.

"If we screw up though, and they find out; we'll be in big trouble!" said the boy dangerously, standing up too.

His clothes were also black, but he wore pants and a short-sleeve shirt. No gloves were on his hands, but he did wear the short black boots. The auburn "R" on his shirt was a match to the "R" on Marilu's. His eyes were a cold and unforgiving lavender color, and he brushed his fluffy, spiked, dark purple hair back with his hand as he faced Marilu.

"No, I think we could take 'em! They're only beginning trainers! What're they going to attack us with? _A Weedle_? Come on Zephyr! After all, we got that rare Butterfree!" Marilu said, rolling her eyes in defiance.

"I don't know; and the Butterfree was from an _unconscious_ trainer! That doesn't count… Especially since we weren't the cause of her unconscious state," replied Zephyr. He was not convinced.

"Well, I say we do it. Giovanni will be very pleased when we bring him all three Kanto starter pokemon. He loves it when he gets a complete set all at once!" exclaimed Marilu excitedly; she gave a sideways glance at Zephyr, "And think of how our families will react when they see how the youngest of their offspring can already carry on the family business." She was not about to let him ruin her chances at success.

Zephyr sighed; she had a point. He always had reservations about doing these things, and was perfectly content doing what they were supposed to be doing. "Alright," he said reluctantly, "But how shall we do it?"

"Well, from the looks of things, the two boys will be together shortly, and the girl is all alone. We'll split up and lure them back to the base. Then, we'll paralyze them with Jolteon, tie 'em up with your 'little brat', and nab their pokemon! It'll be a cinch!" she said, licking her lips excitedly.

"Okay… but there's one problem; Chikorita is _not_ a little brat. _Stop calling her that_!" he said dangerously, glaring at Marilu. He paused for a moment, and then nodded, "Right. So who will you be manipulating?"

"I'll take the boys. It's _easy_ to manipulate them! I'll just cry all wimpyish, and they'll be like putty when I get through with 'em! And I'm sure you could deal with that wimpy girl. Just make up some sob story or something and get her to follow you," Marilu said, waving her hand to show how simple it would be.

"Right," answered Zephyr. He didn't really care, as long as it would work. He would not jeopardize his chance to earn his family's respect because of a failed plan of something they weren't even supposed to be doing yet….

----------------------------------------------

Kayla hummed quietly to herself as she walked along the diminishing dirt road in the forest. The trees were starting to get thinner; so they were probably almost out of the woods. She watched Charmander waddle along beside her and smiled to herself.

Charmander looked up and realized that he could see more of the sky. (Wow, pretty clouds!) he said happily, pointing up to the sky.

Kayla looked up too. "Oh look at the clouds Charmander!" she said as she noticed the large, fluffy cumulus clouds.

The two continued to look up as their pace slowed a bit from their attention shift. Kayla wasn't watching where she was going, nor did she notice the large rock in the road.

"What a nice da-- aaayyyy!" she yelled, tripping on the rock in the road. She began to fall down when something caught her arms. She looked up from the two arms that had caught hers and saw a young teenage boy with cold lavender eyes looking at her. He looked around her age, but she couldn't really tell for sure without asking.

Charmander walked over to her quickly and eyed the boy in black pants and a dark purple jacket suspiciously.

"Ah!" she mumbled, blushing with embarrassment, "I-I'm sorry--I didn't!"

"Oh that's okay," said the boy, pulling her up, "I would've done the same thing. I'm always so clumsy!" He was still holding her arms.

"Uh, oh…" she said, still unsure of what to say, and feeling nervous that he was still holding her.

"But I'm glad I ran into you. You see, I've lost my pokemon Chikorita around here… She got spooked by some Spearow and ran off somewhere. I'd try looking myself, but I just can't beat two pairs of eyes. Please help me; she's all I've got," his eyes warmed a bit, "If anything ever happened to her, I don't know what I'd do."

Kayla felt so sorry for him. She would probably be just the same if her Charmander or Mr. Cubone, or even her newly caught Pidgey, were missing. She nodded.

"Sure, I'll help you. Um… my name's K-Kayla," she said timidly. She gave a weak smile to the boy.

"My name's Bryant," he said, smiling back, "And thanks for helping me. I just know we'll find her."

Bryant led them in the direction of where he claimed Chikorita had run off in. The three of them stepped into a more secluded area of the forest. Bryant looked around, listening softly.

"Okay, I think she'd probably be somewhere over here," he said, peering around.

"Charmander, you'll help too?" Kayla asked the orange pokemon, who had said little since Bryant had come.

(Sure. Chikorita are supposed to be very friendly,) he replied, trying to shake of a sudden feeling of unease.

"W-wait! I don't think that's such a good idea. My Chikorita doesn't take to kindly to fire pokemon. She's had a, um, bad experience," he said, waving his hand not wanting to explain it.

"Well… uh, okay," said Kayla, though she didn't want to be alone with someone she barely knew. But the boy's smiling, kind face didn't look threatening at all so….

(I don't like this Kayla! At least bring out ol' Pops!) said Charmander, but his request fell on deaf ears.

Kayla was too worried about being alone to think of Mr. Cubone; and she wouldn't have wanted to bother him when he so clearly wanted time alone. She brought out Charmander's pokeball.

"Sorry Charmander… return! Maybe later you can come back out and we can have a snack together," she said, holding out the red and white ball. Charmander shook his head with a worried look, but soon enough the red light had engulfed him and he was gone.

Bryant watched as Kayla returned Charmander with an odd expression on his face. It was a mix of confusion and curiosity. Kayla stared back for a moment.

"Y-yes?" she said shakily.

"N-nothing…," replied Bryant. He looked away, and then his head jerked up.

"Hey! I think I heard her!" he said, holding his hand up to his ear.

"Really?" asked Kayla, hoping that they would find the little pokemon soon.

"Quick! This way!" said Bryant urgently. He began to run towards an even more remote and wild part of the forest, Kayla at his heels.

------------------------------------------

"What do you want _Mikey_?" said Gary, wondering why on Earth losers always managed to find him.

"I came ta' show you my Pika--," he began, but was cut off by some sort of wailing noise.

They both turned around to see a girl in a skirt running up to them.

"Help me! Oh someone help me!" she wailed, tears streaming down her face. Her black knee-high skirt shook with her shaking legs, and she shook the green ponytail on her head as she yelled.

"Woah, hold on girl! What's wrong!" said Mike, looking concerned.

Gary scoffed, "Huh? Pfft, she's probably overreacting."

"Gary!" yelled Mike, shooting an angry glance at him. He patted the girl on the shoulder. "It's okay, now, tell us what's wrong."

"M-my Jolteon. She was over there, and then we saw it. An Articuno! It flew over us and then doubled back and landed right in front of us! I battled it with my Jolteon, but it was too strong. I was so close to beating it, but it got angry and flew off a few feet. I know it hasn't flown away, which means it must be hurt somewhere. I need help finding it!"

Gary quaked with laughter, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard! Ah ha ha! An _Articuno_! Oh _yeah_! _Right_!" He continued to laugh.

"Oh Gary! Really, could ya' be any more insensitive!" yelled Mike, giving Gary another glare, "I believe her!"

Gary looked up, his laughter stopping, "Oh yeah? Well if you believe her then you're a fool! And besides, what's in it for me? I spend all of my time helping some girl catch a legendary pokemon, _that may or may not exist_, and I get what?"

The girl looked like she was thinking quickly. Then her saddened face returned. "Here, just look at what I found on the ground after it fought with me!" she said tearfully, reaching into her pocket and bringing out a large, silvery blue feather.

Mike awed over it as Gary remained looking skeptical.

"I don't know, why would you want us to help you anyway? Wouldn't you want to catch it yourself?" he asked, folding his arms.

"Look, I don't want the stupid pokemon; _you_ could catch it for all I care! I just want to make sure that it's not tramping around all hurt! Are you going to help me or what!" she said, her voice becoming a bit more impatient.

Gary raised an eyebrow; but he just couldn't pass up this chance to catch such a rare pokemon if she really was telling the truth.

"I'll do it!" he said.

"I'll come too. Gary might not be able to catch it after all!" said Mike, grabbing the girl's hand; "Let's go!"

The girl gave an evil smirk that went unnoticed by the two boys. "Thanks you guys."

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As Kayla and Bryant walked into what appeared to be a small campsite; Gary, Mike and the girl also came from the other side.

Kayla perked up when she saw Mike and Gary. "It's Mike and Gary!" said Kayla. The two groups met by the remnants of a small fire, and Bryant and the girl turned to stand side-by-side. The three trainers all stood in a line, facing the two.

"Hey! What's goin' on here!" yelled Gary, feeling uneasy. These two looked as if they knew each other.

"Sorry to burst your bubble boys, but there's no Articuno!" the girl said, a dark grin on her face.

Gary glared angrily at Mike, "This is all your fault _Mikey;_ you idiot!"

"Bryant…?" said Kayla, feeling a little scared.

Bryant was about to answer, when the girl cut him off, "Heh, Bryant!" she gave a side glance to the boy, "That's not his name! His name's Zephyr, and mine's Marilu little girl; and we're members of Team Rocket!"

"What!" yelled the three trainers, shocked from the revelation.

"Jolteon go!" yelled Marilu, her voice commanding and angry sounding.

Kayla watched as a flash of black light appeared from the pokeball. The black light formed the shape of a spiny mammal as it disappeared, a yellow and white spiny dog-like creature standing in its wake. Its eyes were small and lifeless, and it growled at the three trainers as it stepped forward.

Kayla gasped as she suddenly remembered Cubone's first appearance out of a pokeball.

Mike's shaking hand managed to pull out his PokeDex.

_Beep! Jolteon, the Lightning pokemon. Jolteon are known to be fearless. However, if something does scare or anger them, they will release the spikes on their bodies in a round of electrified projectiles known as a Pin Missile attack. Jolteon is the evolved form of Eevee. This can be accomplished from using a Thunder Stone. This Jolteon is at level 38. Its attacks are: Thunder, Pin Missile, Thunder Wave, and Double Kick. This Jolteon is unreadable by this PokeDex in the area of stats._

Zephyr tossed down a pokeball too, and it opened with the usual white light. As the white light faded away, a small light green pokemon was left in its place. She shook the green leaf on her head, and gave a happy look up to her trainer. Her bright red eyes looked soft and pleasant.

Mike moved his PokeDex to point to the green pokemon.

_Beep! There is no data on this pokemon. It is from the Johto region._

"T-That's a Chikorita?" asked Kayla, looking at Zephyr.

He nodded, and Marilu stepped forward. "Very good! Now, time to give us all your pokemon!" she yelled at them, smiling still.

"No way!" yelled Gary and Mike at the same time.

Kayla started to feel tears form. Why was this happening when everything was going so well?

"Oh, you don't want to? Well, I'm sure Jolteon here can change your minds! Jolteon! Thunder Wave!" Marilu called, pointing to the trio.

"What! You're insane! You can't use an attack on a human! It's against the rules!" yelled Gary angrily; he reached for one of his pokeballs.

But Jolteon was too fast for him. It growled deeply and tiny sparks of electricity sprung up all over its body. Soon Jolteon was a glowing ball of sparks, and when it let out a loud cry, the many sparks shot out towards the three trainers.

Marilu chuckled darkly while Zephyr nervously looked away.

Mike tried to run away, but five or so sparks caught him in the back, and he fell with a thud on the hard ground. Gary was about to throw his ball, when the sparks caught him and he doubled over onto the forest floor; so he dropped the ball onto the ground. It didn't open. Kayla gasped in horror, but she knew there was nothing she could do. She was frozen with fear as a good deal of the sparks hit her in the mid-section. She screamed and fell to the ground.

Kayla had never felt an electric attack before, and now she knew what people meant when they said it felt like your skin was moving. She tried to move her legs, but they wouldn't move. She couldn't get up….

The three looked on through blurred vision as Zephyr stepped up. He pointed to the trio also, and spoke softly to his pokemon, "Chikorita, use your Vine Whip to tie them up."

Chikorita looked absolutely stunned that her trainer had been part of such a terrible thing. She looked up at him with wide eyes, (Bryant? I don't want to hurt people….)

Kayla and the others twitched on the ground, helpless.

Marilu rolled her eyes. "Oh my gosh, just whip the insolent little--."

"_Shut up_!" cried Zephyr. He looked back to Chikorita. "I'm sorry Chikorita, but I was going to have to do this sooner or later. You knew that. Now please, tie them up."

Chikorita nodded reluctantly, and light green vines extended from the round green bumps on her neck. They wrapped up around the three and tightly grouped them together. Then she made her vines wrap around a few more times, and tightened them. Kayla's arm was pinched a bit.

"Ow…!" she squealed, feeling some tears run down her right cheek.

Chikorita blinked and looked sorry for Kayla. She loosened her vines in that spot a bit.

Kayla looked over to the small, green pokemon. "Thank-thank you…," she breathed, feeling her energy leaving her.

"Jolteon! Another Thunder Wave to knock 'em out!" commanded Marilu. Jolteon did as it was told with an evil smile to match it's trainer's, Chikorita resisted being paralyzed, Zephyr looked away again, and once again Kayla felt the skin-crawling effect of the electric sparks. Unfortunately, that was the last thing she felt, for her body couldn't take any more, and she slipped off into darkness.

Marilu sighed. "Wow, that was so much fun!" she cheered, practically glowing with excitement. She paused and gave another side glance to Zephyr, "So what's the deal with using your real name as an alias?"

"What?" said Zephyr, giving an uncaring look to Marilu, "Who cares. I'll never even see her again. Besides, I couldn't think of anything else."

Chikorita looked at the three trainers that were tied in its vines.

(I'm sorry… I had hoped that Bryant wouldn't have wanted to do this when the time came. I tried my best, but I guess I failed.)

_A/N: Whew! See, I told you there would be longer chapters coming up. Anyway, hope you liked it and hopefully Marilu and Zephyr/Bryant were fairly interesting to read. I know it might be a bit overused to have a Rocket pair in a story, but they do always come in pairs. At least I didn't have a talking pokemon as their team member. Anyway, how will the trio from Pallet get out of this one? Stay tuned!_


	9. Ch 9 Cubone's Dark Side

**neogirl7900:** Yes, thanks, I was a bit unsure about making them a Rocket pair, but they are much more crucial to the story than Jessie and James ever were. As for Marilu and the Articuno thing; she was supposed to seem suspicious, and most of that is because she is inexperienced (and quite frankly so are Gary and Mike). Though it wasn't supposed to be quite that confusing. Maybe I'll change that part if I ever revise this story (when I get done!).

**Digi Fan: **Thanks! As to your question, Kayla won't see a whole lot of Ash but I think I will have them meet once. The story's sorta about her; I'd like to keep her as separate as possible.

**PyroArts:** Thanks for your review! (Hm… I think I've started almost all of my review responses with 'Thanks') Yeah, we'll see what happens when Cubone gets out. And thank you, I work hard on making battles/captures as different and entertaining as I can think of.

**Maia's Pen:** Thanks for keeping with my fic! Like I've said before, I worked on this story in my head for about two years, and part of that was pokemon personalities. They're like main characters in my story and I truly believe that pokemon are the heart of the entire Pokemon game/anime/anything. I just wish the anime would have more depth for the pokemon; most of them are just so underdeveloped.

**Twisted Alyx:** Ooh, a new reader! Actually, I think PyroArts was too, but I can't remember and I'm too lazy to make sure. Anyway! Thanks for your many reviews! I'm glad you like it so much. That makes me happy. You know, that's a good question, how did Charmander know what gender Pidgey was? In my fic, pokemon just seem to know those things; I just assume that pokemon are like us and can just tell when one of them is a girl or boy. Maybe they can smell a difference. I have to think about that one. Anyway, I could comment more about what you said, but then you would never get to read the next chapter! So, know that I do appreciate everything you say. :smile:

_Disclaimer (Wow! I'm really on a roll with remembering things!): Read my text: I do not own Pokemon, or anything to do with it. Really._

**The Glass Half Full**

**Ch.9 Cubone's Dark Side**

"_Grama…?"_

"_Yes dear? Speak up what is it child?"_

"_Why-why do the other kids laugh at me?"_

_The old woman's face wrinkled in a frown. "What have they been saying?"_

"_I don't know; that my Mommy and Daddy abandoned me because I they didn't want me," the little red-haired girl said, holding back small tears._

"_Well that's just a load of nonsense and poppycock! Your parents didn't abandon you at all! They loved you very much Kayla! They sacrificed themselves so that you could live. They wanted so much to see you grow up into a beautiful and smart young woman. If only they hadn't taken that--," she became aware that Kayla was still listening to her, "Oh! Well, you don't need to be troubled with that…. Kayla, don't listen to those dumb kids. They just don't understand what it's like to not have parents, so they don't know how to act around you."_

Kayla slowly realized that she was not still a little girl, and that she was indeed in the middle of the Viridian Forest, on her pokemon journey. Her pokemon journey that was not going so well right now.

She didn't want to open her eyes; she didn't want to face her problems. Maybe if she just sat there staring at the blackness of the back of her eyelids, everything would just go away?

Something kicked her leg hard.

"Ow!" she squeaked, opening her eyes abruptly. It was nighttime, and judging by the pitch dark sky and the high, bright white moon; it was late in the night. Her body ached all over, and it felt as if she had run a marathon, though she had just been sitting in the same spot for who knew how long. She turned her aching neck slowly to where the kick had come from and saw a slightly charred Gary.

"Hey, you awake?" he said, looking just as tired and aching as Kayla felt.

"Yeah, uh, I was just… thinking," she answered, not wanting to admit the intense feeling of hopelessness that resided within her. It was then she realized that Mike had not woken up yet, and that the three of them were still bound together. Not by the Chikorita though, but by some thick rope. Kayla looked over to a small smoldering campfire.

"Are they st-still here?" she asked, knowing that they probably had gone with all of their pokemon by now.

"Yes," said Gary, looking at the tiny fire, "They're either the most confident crooks I've ever seen, or they're the dumbest… probably the dumbest. I think they look too young to be doing what they're doing, considering the girl was talking to the boy as if this was their first heist; and I also heard her say that they were gonna leave at midnight. I can't reach my watch to see it, but judging from how dark it is, I'd say it's somewhere close to midnight. But at least this means that we can try and formulate a plan to get out of here!"

"Hmm…," said Kayla, not sure about how they could get out of this.

"If Mike there would wake up already! We might be able to get going!" said Gary, whipping his head in the direction of Mike.

Kayla suddenly thought of her pokemon that were soon to belong to Team Rocket-- what would happen to them?

"Hey, um, Gary?" she asked, knowing that there was nothing else to talk about.

"Yeah?" he replied, looking curious.

"What happens to pokemon that are captured by Team Rocket?" she wondered, hoping that he would know something about it.

"Well let me see," said Gary, enjoying that someone thought him smart enough to ask him a pokemon question, "All I've ever heard about it is what my Grandfather has told me. And he just goes on about how Team Rocket abuses their pokemon."

Kayla became quiet, remembering the way that the Jolteon they had seen had looked at them. It seemed so _happy_ to get a chance to shock them with an attack.

"Oh come on Mike! What'dya need? An engraved invitation! Geez, this guy sleeps more than his Bulbasaur!" said Gary angrily, while kicking Mike in the leg as he had done to Kayla.

Kayla was trying to hold back tears again, when suddenly she heard a soft flapping noise, a familiar soft flapping noise….

She looked up in the direction she had heard it. "Um, Gary?" she said quietly.

Gary stopped his onslaught of kicks for a moment. "What?" he said, hoping that maybe it was some idea of how to get the idiot next to him to wake up.

"I think I hear the Butterfree!" she said, moving her head in the direction she had heard them.

Gary sighed, "Oh that's just great; now they can come and blow us up! This is a fine way to begin a journey!"

A loud grunt of pain was heard from Mike's side of the tied-up trainers.

"Finally!" yelled Gary, turning his angry face to look at Mike.

"Oh… sorry I took so long waking up. Ow! I am _so_ sore! Especially my leg; weird," whined Mike, his head hanging in pain.

Gary started to scold Mike on his oversleeping, while Kayla continued to watch for the Butterfree. If maybe somehow they could talk to them, convince them to help them escape; then maybe they could really pull it off. But that in itself seemed pretty impossible.

A few more seconds of darkness in the direction Kayla was looking, and then a small group of Butterfree could be seen in the moonlight flapping towards them slowly. The three appeared to be tired, and were probably looking for somewhere to rest. Kayla tried to think of a way to get the trio of pokemon's attention, but there was no way she could just get up and wave her arms; and she wasn't about to go yelling for them. She looked down at the smoldering fire that Zephyr and Marilu had left.

"Hey!" she said to Gary and Mike, "Maybe we can re-start the fire!"

Gary and Mike both looked stunned. "What for?" said Mike.

Kayla explained her idea about the Butterfree.

"Why would they help us after all that mess we were in?" said Mike, still unconvinced.

Gary looked skeptical too, "Yeah, unfortunately, I'm gonna have to go with _Mikey_ on this one."

They went back to arguing and brainstorming other ideas about how to get out, and Kayla felt shot down again.

She could think of nothing they could do to get out on their own. Worse of all, Kayla had let her pokemon down-- what kind of trainer was she? The fear of failure and the fear of what would happen to her sweet pokemon welled up inside her. Tears were now beginning to give Kayla problems again; but when she slowly looked up toward the sky her eyes met with three large Butterfree!

"Ah!" she squeaked, surprised and a bit confused as to why they had suddenly appeared next to them.

(Why are you all tied up? We heard a ruckus from this part of the forest a while ago, and thought that we should check up on it. Never thought that you three imbeciles would be at the center of it, again,) said the leader Butterfree, his eyes narrowing a bit.

Kayla blinked. "Uh, um, well, you see, Team Rocket tricked us, and they stole our pokemon and--."

(What! Team Rocket! In _our_ part of the forest! Never!) yelled the leader, the other two Butterfree with him nodding.

Gary and Mike were silently watching Kayla; unsure of what to make of it.

Kayla pleaded with the Butterfree, "Please, please help us! If you could just get these ropes off we would be so grateful!"

The leader cocked an eye, (Hmm… well, we shall help you three. On one condition; you must promise never to start or own a campfire again,) he paused, shooting a glance at the two boys, (And only when all three of you promise, will we help you obtain your pokemon.)

Kayla nodded, and turned to Gary and Mike; who were staring at Kayla strangely.

"You guys… we need to promise not to start fires again… that way the Butterfree can help us out like they said they would!" she pleaded, hoping they would agree.

Gary shook his head in disbelief, "_What are you talking about? 'They said'?_ Kayla, pokemon just mumble their names in their own language. You can't possibly know what that Butterfree is promising; if he's promising anything at all!"

Kayla was about to explain how the Butterfree had just told her that he would help them, when she stopped, and her eyes widened. How _did_ she know what it was they had said? When the leader Butterfree had spoken, what she had heard was not the pleasant sound of Butterfree garble, but instead a strong and deep male voice speaking in what she assumed was her own language.

She tried to talk, to explain to the two boys why she had understood the Butterfree, but she just couldn't. Gary and Mike sat there for a few moments staring at her, but then Mike shook his head.

"I don't care what's going on! I want to get my pokemon back, and I want to teach those two idiots a lesson! I'll promise not to start a campfire ever again!" he said, looking to the Butterfree.

The Butterfree all nodded, and looked to Gary.

Gary stared up in disbelief, but nodded just the same; "_Alright!_ This is crazy, but I'll promise not to start fires too."

Kayla was still trying to think on what had just happened, when the Butterfree leader tapped her with his foot.

"Oh! Um, I promise," she said timidly, looking at the Butterfree with a confused expression. How was any of this happening? Was it all really a dream of hers perhaps?

The Butterfree nodded to one another, and began to talk to each other. Kayla tried to listen to them, but all she could hear was regular pokemon speech. Gone was the deep male voice she had heard when previously talking with the Butterfree.

The three pokemon then made a small huddle, where they portioned off who would do what work, and after a few seconds, the threesome split up. Two of the Butterfree, including the leader, flew silently over to the side of the tent that the two Rocket members presumably had been staying; while the third flew up to the three trainers, and took a few moments to regard the ropes binding them together.

"Do you know what they're doing?" asked Mike, looking at Kayla.

"N-no. I, um, can't seem to understand them anymore," she said, still very much confused by this.

Gary rolled his eyes, but still even wondered to himself how it was she seemed to know what the Butterfree wanted. For they were seemingly helping them out right now; so Kayla's suggestion was right.

(I know! I'll just chew the ropes away. That'll get you guys out!) said the Butterfree before them cheerfully. He was obviously proud of his genius idea.

He flew down between Gary and Kayla, and began to gnaw away at the ropes with his small mandibles. The mandibles weren't very sharp, but with a lot of practice from gnawing at tree branches and such throughout the forest, the Butterfree was well prepared to take on a bit of rope.

As soon as the three trainers were free of the rope, they stood up, each of them rubbing some part on their aching bodies. Then, voices were heard coming from the tent of the two Rockets. The other two Butterfree came bounding out, one with a small group of pokeballs in it's arms, and the leader looking frantic. They flew over to the three trainers, and dropped the pokeballs in Kayla's arms. Gary and Mike struggled to find their own pokemon.

(We didn't have enough time to grab them all. They reacted to our presence too quickly! I'm hoping though, that the ones we grabbed are all of your pokemon,) said the leader, looking sorry.

The two Rockets sprinted outside of the tent in time to see the three Butterfree give the pokeballs back, and they both didn't look too happy.

"Ahh! Marilu, I told you we should have gone after stealing them! In fact, I said not to steal them at all! Now look!" yelled Zephyr, glaring at his partner. He knew that they would slip up somehow. He blushed a bit from embarrassment, for now they both looked even more inexperienced than the three trainers before them.

Marilu smiled evilly, "Don't worry. They're just novice trainers. There's nothing they can dish out that we can't take."

She tossed her pokeball onto the ground hard, and the unusual black colored light spouted from the ball, releasing the yellow-haired dog once again; it's eyes still containing the lifeless feel to them.

Kayla stared at the yellow dog, an odd feeling coming from it. It was the same intense fear she had felt while being next to Cubone's tree. She blinked. Obviously, there was a reason that both Cubone and Jolteon came out of their pokeballs with black light, but why?

The three Butterfree all gasped upon seeing the Jolteon, and the leader turned to Kayla, his voice shaking as he spoke, (I-I'm afraid that this kind of pokemon is too tough for us three to handle!) He motioned to his two friends, and the three began to fly off.

"W-wait! Why are you leaving?" asked Kayla, now feeling even more scared.

Gary stepped forward. "This time we fight back! Go!" he shouted, tossing his pokeball to the ground. A flash of white light, and soon a squatty Bulbasaur sat on the dark forest floor. Gary paused.

"_Mike! Get your stupid Bulbasaur away from me!_" he yelled, pointing to the grass pokemon.

"Whatever! Gary, just look at the side! Remember, our starters all had symbols on the balls!" said Mike as he ran up and grabbed his Bulbasaur's pokeball. Gary tossed out one of his other pokeballs, and after the flash of light, his Squirtle stood ready for action.

Kayla looked down at her three pokeballs. She tossed out Charmander's ball, and soon enough her starter was now standing in the fray too.

He looked around to see people and pokemon he didn't know. (What the? Oh I told you not to trust that kid! I can sense these things you know!)

Marilu elbowed Zephyr and told him to help her out. He tossed his ball and in the flash of white light's wake, his small Chikorita stood.

"Kayla!" called Gary, "You take on the freak with the Chikorita! We'll handle that chick's Jolteon!"

Kayla nodded, but wasn't sure if she could take on such a higher-level pokemon all by herself. She looked down to Charmander.

"Charmander, um… I guess maybe could you try a Scratch attack?" asked Kayla, feeling very intimidated by the teenage boy in front of her.

"Nice try," said Zephyr, trying to regain some sense of self-confidence, "But I'm afraid that my Chikorita won't be beaten by simple attacks like that."

Kayla blushed and looked down a bit. He had a point.

"Chikorita! Use your Vine Whip again to tie up that girl!" cried Zephyr, pointing to Kayla.

"No!" whispered Kayla, once again feeling hopeless.

Chikorita looked up at her trainer. She had been with him for so long, and been with him through so much; but this was just _too_ much for her. She had never refused him before, but those were all things that she had approved of. She wondered to herself; what would he do right now if she refused?

(No,) she said, giving Zephyr a look of sheer defiance; although you could see the hurt in her eyes for having to do this to him.

"What?" said Zephyr quietly, not believing his eyes.

Marilu was, again, paying attention to the two of them; she need not pay attention to her battle. Jolteon seemed to be making short work of Bulbasaur and Squirtle. "Now you see Zephyr why pokemon must be shown who the master is! I told you_, everyone told you_, a long time ago that if you didn't discipline them correctly from the start, that they would always disobey in the end!"

"You're sick!" yelled Gary, throwing a disgusted look at Marilu.

Zephyr just stood there. Then he brandished what looked like a whip that had been hooked to the side of his belt, and raised it up slightly. Chikorita just stood staring up at him with the same hurtfully defiant look, and Kayla turned away. But no sound came. Zephyr put back his whip.

"Fine. If you won't go restrain her, then I will," he said flatly, looking over to Kayla.

(Hey! Don't touch her!) yelled Charmander. He leapt over to stand in front of Kayla, and suddenly felt kinda-- _weird_. His stomach felt all rumbly, and he peered down at it as Zephyr approached them. (What's wrong with me…?) he mumbled, feeling something coming up his throat. Those Raviolis from yesterday? He looked over to the approaching Zephyr, and felt whatever had been coming up spout out of his mouth! He blinked. It was fire! He had let out occasional fire spouts before, but not this much at one time!

(Look out Bryant!) called Chikorita, now losing her defiant stare.

(Ahhh!) screamed Charmander, freaking out from the fire still coming from his mouth, and he began to run towards Zephyr and Chikorita.

"What the? Ah! Get away you crazy Charmander!" yelled Zephyr, waving his arm as Charmander approached him. However, Charmander couldn't see the waving arm with all of the fire in front of his face, and ran into the boy's legs knocking him over.

"You're burning my arm! Get off!" yelled Zephyr. Chikorita ran up to his side, and Charmander suddenly stopped himself, regaining control of his flames.

Chikorita glared at Charmander. (Watch out! Can't you control your own Ember attack!) she said, tears in her eyes. Charmander shrugged, not knowing what to say.

(I'm, uh, sor--) he started, but was interrupted by a deep, scratchy voice.

(Trying to be the gentleman I see?) said the voice. Charmander looked up to see a large, yellow-haired dog staring down at him with evil eyes and a smirk on his face. Obviously, the yellow pokemon was too much for the combined efforts of Bulbasaur and Squirtle.

(Don't waste your precious time on her; she's nothing but trash,) said the Jolteon, knocking the still glaring Chikorita aside with his front paw.

(Hey!) said Charmander, wanting to tell off the rude pokemon, but when he looked up to face him, a shiver ran down his spine, and he suddenly felt very afraid of the spiny dog… (Um, uh, hey! How's it goin'? Nice night to go stargazing, eh?) said Charmander nervously attempting to back away. He sincerely hoped that the yellow pokemon was not about to kill him.

Kayla looked down at the Jolteon. How could Charmander ever beat something that strong? Then it hit her-- Mr. Cubone! He was a ground pokemon _and_ at a high level! She looked down at the two remaining pokeballs with her, and hoped she would toss the right one.

The ball landed next to both Jolteon and Charmander, and soon all of the trainers and pokemon except for Kayla and Charmander gasped, as the dark black light came forth from the round projectile.

(What is this?) cried the Jolteon, clearly surprised by another black light pokemon coming from a novice trainer.

Cubone soon stood in the light's wake, and looked around silently. Then he saw Jolteon.

(Interesting…,) he said, his eyes widening.

The other trainers all stood watching. Marilu and Zephyr seemed to be just as surprised as Jolteon about Cubone's appearance.

(Step back Charmander. This could get very dangerous,) warned Cubone. Charmander stepped back. All of the trainers continued to stand silently and watch.

(What is a Dark Pokemon like you doing with a little girl?) asked the Jolteon, it's eyes narrowing.

(I refuse to call myself a 'Dark Pokemon'. I am and always shall be a Cubone,) said the brown pokemon, giving a warning look to Jolteon.

Jolteon raised an eyebrow. (Why so polite? Huh, Gramps? How is it you are even able to stand being with this girl? Don't you feel the urge to hurt and destroy like all Dark Pokemon do?) he asked, now starting to circle around Cubone.

(I have no such urge. However, I used to be like you. Alone, hurt, angry… Those days are long gone though. I now know what it means to be someone's pokemon,) Cubone spoke softly, watching the Jolteon carefully.

Kayla and the other trainers all watched, fascinated by the two dark pokemon.

(Heh. So you met this girl and she 'changed' you? Is that it?) the yellow dog said, chuckling to himself.

(No. I met her father, and he and his friends taught me what friendship was about. What love was about,) said Cubone, still eyeing Jolteon.

Jolteon was about to answer back to Cubone's comment; when suddenly his eyes widened in recognition. He smirked evilly. (I remember you! You were the one who escaped the Team Rocket lab quite a few years ago! I was much younger back then and in the service of my Master's father, but already so eager to help out with 'special' projects of Team Rocket. There were four pokemon that I was sent to kill. A Quilava, an Ivysaur, a Cubone, and… oh, what else? Oh yes; and a Pidgey.)

Cubone's eyes were now the one's to widen, but as soon as they had expanded, they contracted into an angry glare. He raised his bone weapon up a bit.

(Hm,) said Jolteon, a fake lightness in his voice, (Yes, they were very fun to hurt. It was such a pity that you ran off. I was saving you for last. Oh well, I got my kicks with the other three. Especially,) he paused, giving Cubone another smirk, (that girl Pidgey. Oh yes, she was the easiest of the three; wasn't even a challenge. What a pathetic piece of trash!)

Cubone's grip tightened on his bone club, and his eyes now had the same look to them as Jolteon's; small and lifeless. He shook slightly with suppressed rage, and took a step towards the yellow pokemon.

(Wait! What're you doing Pops!) cried Charmander, running up to the brown pokemon's side.

Cubone glanced behind him and knocked Charmander away with a blow of his bony weapon. Charmander skidded to a stop by Kayla and looked up, a confused and hurt expression on his face.

(_Get away from me!_) yelled Cubone to Charmander, his voice a bit gruffer than usual. He then turned around, lowered his head, took a few steps back; and with incredible speed, darted up to Jolteon. The yellow pokemon was caught off guard by the old pokemon's speed, and had no time to avoid the attack. Soon enough Cubone's secondary skull smashed into Jolteon's front, making the pokemon fly back several feet before hitting a tree.

Marilu gasped. "No one's _ever_ beaten my Jolteon! Jolteon you weakling! Get up and fight back! NOW!"

Zephyr and Chikorita were still on the ground, Chikorita looking over the bad burn on his arm. Zephyr watched the intense attack that Cubone had just performed. "Marilu!" he called, "We should just leave! There's no point in battling like this! Your Jolteon could get seriously hurt!"

"I DON'T CARE!" Marilu cried, brandishing a black whip, "Jolteon! Either you get up, or my whip will make you!"

Kayla put a hand to her mouth, and gasped a bit. How could anyone treat their own pokemon so cruelly, and with no remorse like that? She helped Charmander up on his feet.

"Are you okay?" she asked the lizard, who was rubbing his tail.

(Yeah, but Pops…,) he said, looking to Cubone.

Kayla watched as Cubone began to stomp up to the injured Jolteon, readying to use his bone club against it.

"M-Mr. Cubone! What-What're you doing?" called Kayla, feeling a bit scared of Cubone. She had never seen him this way before.

Cubone turned around at the sound of Kayla's voice, and paused for a moment. He called to her in the same overly gruff voice as Charmander had heard.

(_Go! I will meet with you two in the city's Pokemon Center after I have dealt with some things…,_) he said, and then turned to face the yellow pokemon that was now beginning to get up on its feet.

Charmander pulled at Kayla's overall pant leg. (Come on! Let's go! If that's what Pops wants then I won't be the one to say no to him right now!) he quickly peered to the Cubone, (Especially now.)

Kayla hesitated; she didn't want to leave him here all alone. Gary and Mike took their chances and began to run away. Mike ran fast, and Gary looked back at Kayla.

"Hurry up Kayla! Do you have a death wish!" he yelled, then continued on his way.

Cubone looked back, seeing Kayla still there, and frowned. Why wouldn't she leave? He closed his eyes, _'this is for your own good,' _he thought to himself. He then raised up his thick bony weapon, and hurled it toward Kayla and Charmander. The two had to dart away quickly to avoid it hitting them.

Charmander pulled again at Kayla. (Now do you see how serious he is about us going!) said Charmander, looking tired, (Come on!)

Kayla nodded, reluctantly turned around and, with Charmander keeping up as best he could, began to run towards the exit of the Viridian Forest.

_A/N: Okay, a little note on ages of pokemon. Charmander would be like a teenager, and Chikorita would be about a little older. Jolteon is much older, he was like a young teen when he was Marilu's father's pokemon, which was about 14 years ago. Cubone is, of course, very old and was already an adult when he met Kayla's father about 30 years ago. Hopefully that wasn't too confusing (heck, I almost confused ME). Anyway, next chapter will feature the aftermath of this, and the introduction of Pewter City. Stay tuned!_


	10. Ch 10 Pokemon Switch!

**Antithesis:** Yes, dark pokemon indeed. Think of them like the pokemon from the Team Rocket TCG Boosters, you know, like "Dark Rapidash" and such. Or I suppose you could think about them as like the shadow pokemon from Pokemon Collosseum. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!

**Mareo and Anime: **Yeah, I suppose it would make more sense to have a level 5 pokemon as a young pokemon, but Charmander's a special case, as you will find out a bit later. (And by a bit I mean like two chapters or so).

**neogirl7900:** Glad you liked it! I almost always have distractions unless I'm reading in the school computer lab where no one talks. Though, even there I sometimes have the unfortunate luck of sitting next to an older adult that has no clue how to operate a mouse….

**Digi Fan:** You're welcome. See, I do listen to my reviewers!

**Maia's Pen:** Yes, Marilu's my very evil bad guy/gal. You gotta have at least one of those to have a good story in my opinion. That's one of the things I'm not very satisfied about when it comes to the pokemon anime. There's no re-curring really evil person.

Now, apologies for taking so long for updating. Summer was consuming me, and lately reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been consuming me as well! Anyway, now that I've finished it (it was SO awesome by the way!), and my summer is now quite boring, you shall get regular updates! So enjoy.

_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Stop asking me! I know I just totally seem like the kind of person to own it, but really I don't!_

**The Glass Half Full**

**Ch.10 Pokemon Switch!**

Kayla and Charmander had been running quite an awful lot. Kayla had never imagined that she would be spending so much of the time on her journey going at such a fast pace. As the trees thinned out and disappeared behind them, and the glowing lights of Pewter City came into view, Kayla couldn't help but wonder if she had done the right thing….

She and Charmander slowed their pace quite a bit, attempting to catch their breaths.

"Do you… think we did the… right thing Charmander…," breathed Kayla, too tired to think of anything else.

(Honestly I don't know. He said he wanted us to go, so we did. I guess what we should be asking is if Pops did the right thing,) said Charmander, shaking his head slowly, (You know, he was really creepin' me out! Talk about getting angry.)

Kayla's mind wasn't listening to anything Charmander was saying; she was so drained over the whole event, that all she could hear was the innocent sound of soft pokemon-speak coming from the little orange pokemon.

A few minutes later they had entered Pewter City, and had absolutely no idea where they were going. Kayla and Charmander wandered the streets, keeping alert to any buildings that were red and white, as Pokemon Centers usually were.

Suddenly Charmander let out a cry, and Kayla looked down to see him pointing to a Pokemon Center building! She smiled weakly, and the two dragged themselves over to it, wanting nothing but this whole day to end.

As they entered, Kayla remembered about Pidgey. She looked down at the remaining pokeball as she brought it out of her pack, and spied Cubone's pokeball as well.

"I hope he's alright," she whispered, fearing the worst.

The two approached the front desk of the cream-colored lobby, and Kayla glanced at a girl who was bent over trying to pick something up behind the counter.

"Um… hello?" asked Kayla timidly.

The girl stood up abruptly, her eyes wide. "Eeek! What! Who's ther--," she paused, "Oh; I thought you were going to like kidnap me or steal my pokemon or something. Man, don't sneak up on someone like that!"

Kayla stared for a moment at her. She looked a bit like Nurse Joy, but clearly was not. Her eyes were a green color, very atypical of Joy's; and instead of her bright red hair being put in two loops that come down from her head, hers were in two small poufs. She chomped her gum as she looked over Kayla.

"Uh, I'm sorry, it's just, could you heal my Pidgey please?" asked Kayla, feeling a bit intimidated by the girl's forwardness.

The girl snatched the pokeball out of Kayla's hand, and gave her a puzzled look, "Why would you want to battle at this time of night?" She looked up and down at Kayla's messed up crimson hair and dirty overalls.

"You must be from Pallet Town, huh? Are you a hick or something?" she said, now looking at Kayla with what seemed to be a prejudiced point of view.

Kayla blinked. This was the second time she had been labeled a 'hick' because of her appearance, and was starting to come with a mixture of shame and annoyance along with it. "I uh, I guess so…. And I wasn't battling, well, you see, these two Team Rocket members tried to steal my pokemon and two other kids'--."

The nurse grabbed onto Kayla's shoulders. "OH MY GOSH! That is _SO HORRIBLE_! Are you okay! Are your pokemon stolen! How'd you escape! Oh my _gosh,_" the nurse shouted frantically. She seemed more upset about it than Kayla.

(Who _is_ this chick?) mumbled Charmander, eyeing the girl curiously.

"Uh…" mumbled Kayla, not sure really what to say. She had never met a person as hyper as this before. She was glad though that this revelation seemed to push her preconceptions about Kayla out of her mind.

"Oh I'm so sorry, your pokemon should get healed. You can tell me all about your adventure when I get back with it; I'm sure you must need someone to talk with. What about that one? The Charmander?" she asked, pointing to the lizard standing next to Kayla.

Charmander waved his arms nervously, and backed away a few feet, (Oh no no no, I'm perfectly okay!)

Kayla assumed he meant no, and shook her head. She was glad that Charmander didn't want to go away. She didn't want to be alone right now.

The girl nodded briefly, and then turned around to go into a small room behind her. She paused in mid-step as she reached the doorway between the rooms.

"Oh! And by the way, my name's Julie. I'm the little sister of the Nurse Joy that usually works here! She had to go tend to an emergency in Saffron City, so now I'm watching the center! I know, know, I'm not a Pokemon Nurse, but from being around my sister all the time I've learned just as much as she has! Oh, and your name was…?" she said quickly, trailing off waiting for Kayla to reply.

"Huh? Oh! My name is Kayla," she answered, her mind still thinking of the little brown pokemon that was missing.

Julie nodded, then disappeared into the other room.

Kayla looked over to a marble bench at the side of the room. She walked over there slowly and sat down with a whimper, her body still recovering from the Thunder Wave she had received earlier in the day.

Charmander walked up to her and looked at his trainer's face. (Are you okay?) he asked, feeling sorry for all they had been through.

Kayla ignored him. She peered to the glass doors of the center. Where was Cubone? Was he alright? Kayla tried not to think of him, but the more she tried not to, the harder it became. He had sacrificed his safety for them to escape, and what had she done? Nothing.

She wanted, now, more than anything in the world to just see him walk through the doors.

Charmander was worried too. He had grown quite fond of 'Pops', and didn't want anything bad to happen to him. He looked up at Kayla, who was now about to cry and frowned.

Well, at least he could do some good for Kayla.

He walked up to the marble bench, and clumsily climbed up onto it and sat next to Kayla. She looked over to him, but then looked back to the sliding glass doors that blocked the entrance to the building. He moved a bit closer to her, and before Kayla even saw what he was doing, climbed onto her lap and gave her a big hug. Kayla was a bit surprised, but it seemed to be just what she needed.

She returned the hug, taking note as to how warm his skin felt. Charmander's skin was a bit odd feeling. It was scaly like a lizard's, but was not rough in any way. It was actually quite the opposite, and felt smoother and almost silky.

Kayla tried not to cry, but she couldn't help it; the hug had milked it out of her….

However, their warm-hearted embrace was cut short by the swishing sound of sliding automatic glass doors.

The two immediately looked to the entrance, and beheld what they had so hoped for.

There in the doorway stood a badly bruised, but still standing Cubone with a few additional cracks in his outer skull. He staggered through the entrance, and stopped when he got to the middle of the center's floor.

(Pops! ) yelled Charmander, both he and Kayla letting go of each other.

"Mr. Cubone! I'm so glad you made it safely," cried Kayla softly, as she ran over to the brown pokemon and kneeled down to see him closer.

Cubone hung his head a bit, and looked to Charmander, (I- I am sorry for how I acted. I have not been that angry since… well, since my Master parted from this world. That- that animal was asking for his death sentence. Pity I didn't get to carry it out.)

(That's okay! No hurt feelings in this happy Charmander! I think we're both just relieved to have you back! I can't believe you took on that really scary Jolteon!) said Charmander, a wide grin on his face.

(Yes well…,) Cubone said, now looking to Kayla, (I am also sorry to have worried you. I just did not want any more harm to come to you Kayla. You are my responsibility. It is my job to make sure that you are safe, and are protected from horrible people like that. It is my duty as your father's pokemon, and as your pokemon.)

Kayla nodded slowly, her eyes wide again. She had just understood the whole conversation. The part where Cubone explained that he was sorry, the part with Charmander saying that it was okay, and the part with Cubone apologizing again. She tried to find her voice, but all she could think about was the two very human speaking voices she had just heard from her pokemon. Cubone's had been a deep, rough male voice, not unlike his pokemon voice, and surprisingly, he didn't really sound as old as he was. Charmander's had been a squeaky boyish voice that strongly reminded her of a teenage boy's voice that was just about to change into a man's.

The two pokemon stared up at Kayla's surprised and almost scared expression.

(Something wrong, Kayla?) asked Charmander, tilting his head to one side.

Cubone blinked. (If you can understand me, try not to think about why you can; it will only make you lose the connection you already have gained. And do not worry or be afraid about your ability. You are supposed to have it,) he said quickly, watching Kayla carefully.

Charmander raised an eyebrow, (Huh? That's like what you said when we first met you. Why do you think that Kayla can understand us? And how do you know what to tell her to do?)

"This- this is weird. I could understand you. But, now I can't seem to anymore; why?" pondered Kayla, feeling a little scared about it.

Charmander rubbed the tiny hole on the side of his head that was his ear, and shook, (What! Did I just hear Kayla say that she could understand us! What the heck's going on! Can't I just get an explanation? Is that so much to ask!)

Cubone didn't answer, and Kayla was about to ask another question, when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Huh?" jumped Kayla, looking around to see Julie.

"Hey, um, can I talk to you for a moment about your pokemon?" asked the nurse's sister. She did not look happy.

Charmander pouted, (Great, now my questions will go unanswered; again.)

Kayla began to feel a bit worried. "Y- yes, what is it?" she asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.

"Well, I thought you said that your pokemon I was to heal was a Pidgey," Julie said, looking confused.

"It is," answered Kayla, becoming curious as to what this was about.

"There was no Pidgey in that pokeball," whispered Julie, as if saying it quietly would make the problem less than what it was.

Cubone and Charmander looked at each other.

"Huh! Then- then what was in it?" asked Kayla, feeling scared once again.

"This Butterfree," she said, pointing to a small Butterfree across the room that Kayla had not yet noticed. It was an unusual color for a Butterfree; its body was a bright red color, and its mandibles, hands, and feet were an orange color. Its eyes were a sparkling sapphire, and its wings were a cream color. Around its neck was a brown collar that had a small golden tag on it. It floated around curiously, looking at objects in the room, and seemed unfazed by the fact that it was now in a very different place than before.

"But how did? Why?" stammered Kayla, trying to reason how her Pidgey had gotten switched. Then she remembered the trio of Butterfree that had helped them in the forest; and how they said that they had only enough time to grab some of the pokeballs.

"Team Rocket must have gotten my Pidgey," said Kayla, finally realizing what had happened.

"Oh that's horrible!" yelled Julie, looking angry about it, "You have got to file a report to Officer Jenny! She'll track down those crooks!"

Kayla sat down again on the bench, unsure of what to do or how to feel. So many things had happened to her; she just wanted to be home again.

Charmander looked up at Kayla. (It's okay, I'm sure Pidgey will probably sit on their heads so much, that they'll just let her go!)

Cubone turned to the orange lizard, (That joke was not funny.)

Charmander shrugged, looking confused, (What joke?)

Julie bent down to look Kayla face-to-face. "Hey! Don't just sit there feeling sorry for yourself! You've got to take action! I know what happened is horrible, which it totally is, but you can't let that stop you from getting back at those evil people! If they get away, then they'll just do what they did to you to someone else!" she paused, "Wait. Did that last part make sense?"

Kayla nodded weakly, "Yes, I suppose you're right. Could you tell me where the police station is?"

"Oh yeah!" the nurse answered with a smile, "Right down the street. You'll see a large building with a sign shaped like a Police badge. You can't miss it!"

The Butterfree from across the room was now near the two girls, hovering in timid curiosity.

Julie gave a glance to it. "And while you're doing that, I'm going to try and find out where this little one belongs. Luckily since it's a pet pokemon, it has a collar and tag on; it shouldn't be too hard to find out who the owner is. And in the meantime, I'll heal this Cubone for you too, 'kay?"

Kayla gave another weak nod, and began to walk out of the center with Charmander, still feeling sorry for herself, regardless of what Julie had said. She hadn't seen much of Pidgey, or gotten to know her that well; but she still missed the little bird. She had so much spirit it seemed; and Kayla would hate for any pokemon to end up like that Jolteon.

The two of them talked very little as they walked up to the police station, and as Kayla walked in, she noticed that there were many people all talking to Officer Jenny. Two of them were people she happened to know; Gary and Mike. Three others were trainers whom she didn't know. And the last was someone Kayla recognized, but didn't know personally; the leader of the Pewter Gym, Brock.

"Hey Charmander," said Kayla, looking to her pokemon, "Maybe you should get into your pokeball, I wouldn't want anyone to knock you or step on you."

(Fair enough. I definitely wouldn't want some kid's shoe stomping on my back, ) said Charmander, trying not to imagine the feeling of being crushed, and willingly returned to his pokeball in a flash of red light.

All of the people surrounding Jenny were shouting for attention, and she had to hush them all several times before they would all quiet. She cleared her throat and pushed her blue hair back behind her shoulder.

"Listen people; I know you all have something to report. But I can't get anyone's complaint if all of you are talking at once! Please, we are all reasonable human beings. You will now form a single file line, and either me, or one of my associates, will see you. And Brock," she said, turning to the spiky-haired gym leader, "This _better_ be an actual complaint it's _four_ in the morning." And with that she turned on her heel, and headed into a room, beckoning the first person in line to come in.

Kayla walked up to Mike and Gary, the only people she felt comfortable with, and gave a timid wave.

Mike started to talk to her, "Hey! What're you doing here? Did one of your pokemon get stolen too?"

Kayla looked surprised, "What? Y- you guys got your pokemon stolen also?"

Gary rolled his eyes, "Well _duh_! What do you think we're doin' here!"

It was now Mike's turn to roll his eyes, "Gary! Sorry Kayla he jus--."

"_Will you stop saying that every time I talk to someone! Who are you, my mother!_"

Mike shot an angry glance at Gary, and continued to talk to Kayla, "_Anyway_, Gary's just in a bad mood. After all, we didn't really help in the Viridian Forest against that Jolteon, and now my Pikachu and Gary's Spearow are missing. I thought I had my Pikachu's pokeball, but it turned out to be Gary's Caterpie. And then Gary thought he had his Spearow, but it ended up being an empty pokeball. So we decided to come here."

"Stupid Team Rocket idiots," mumbled Gary, looking angry.

Kayla nodded, "Yeah, my Pidgey ended up being a Red Butterfree."

Gary looked up. "A Red Butterfree? My grandpa once treated one of those for a Wingrot problem. Those are really rare in Kanto; although they're becoming more common though in other places like Hoenn or Johto. And they're already common in the Orange Islands; which is where they originated. The Orange Islands' pokemon are known to sometimes take on different shades, and the Red Butterfree is a very popular variation there," he finished, sounding almost as smart as the PokeDex.

Mike scowled. "_Let us all bow to Gary's genius_!" he said sarcastically. Gary didn't look like he liked the joke too much, and was about to retaliate when he was cut off.

Officer Jenny's voice called to the next person, Gary, and the three decided to enter together seeing as their complaints were all of the same people.

The policewoman sat at a small desk, covered in papers and pictures of her family. Kayla and the others sat down in three of the five seats all around her room.

Jenny scribbled something down on a paper in front of her, and then looked up at the three, "Alright now; what is it that you three need help with?"

Gary was the first, as usual, to speak up, "Well you see Officer, my frie--, I mean, my _colleagues _and I here had some of our pokemon stolen in the Viridian Forest by two Team Rocket members!"

Kayla and Mike both glanced at each other with expressions of mild surprise. Did Gary just almost call them 'friends'?

"Oh my. Well, I'll tell you right now; it's not that uncommon for people to get their pokemon stolen nowadays. When my mother was a little girl, you hardly ever heard about stolen pokemon! Back then Team Rocket was an organization that performed pokemon research. They never even thought of stealing pokemon! However, their practices were questioned at times," she paused, Gary sighed in boredom, "But then about the time I was born, three families took over the team, and made one man the 'Boss' or leader of the group. Ever since then, their police file has been getting bigger and bigger. So big in fact that we needed to get two file cabinets for them!" she motioned toward two black file cabinets outside of her office.

"That was a _great_ history lesson, but when can you get our pokemon back!" yelled Gary, not caring about things that didn't pertain to him.

Jenny stood up looking angry, "Excuse me? And just who are you anyway? What makes you so special that you can just rudely yell at me like that! Little man, I would watch your tongue."

Gary gulped after seeing how much taller Jenny was than him, and slowly and silently sat back down in his seat.

"Ha!" said Mike, giving Gary a smirk.

"You watch yourself too," said Jenny, now eyeing both boys. She picked up a piece of paper, and began to scrawl things down on it.

"Excuse me," asked Kayla, raising her hand slowly, "B- but how is it you know all of this about such an elusive organization?"

Jenny smiled, "Good question." Gary made a fake gag, and Mike sat silently. "Well Kayla, you see, every family has its black sheep, and the same goes for the Rockets. People unknowingly join, and then decide that they're too brutal for them to handle. Some of them are revolted so much that they even report everything they learn to the authorities. That's why we know what we know."

Kayla nodded, glad her question could be answered. Gary began to look bored.

"Can we get on with this?" asked Gary, looking tired, "It's just a little late."

Jenny cocked an eye at the boy, but continued with her talking. "Yes well, I'll need all of your names, and the pokemon you're missing. And a description of the Rockets that stole them from you wouldn't hurt either. I'll tell you this though; there is no guarantee that we can even find the people who stole your pokemon. Team Rocket members have an amazing way of disappearing from places very quickly. And not to mention, shipping off stolen pokemon quickly too. So even if we find them, which I doubt kids, we probably wouldn't find your pokemon."

"So you're saying it's h- hopeless?" Kayla asked, already knowing the answer.

Jenny looked up from her paper, "Yes. I'm truly sorry. I wish there were more I could do. The law enforcement of today just doesn't have the manpower or the ability to track down all of the cases we get in here. But at least you can file a report."

Kayla sighed with defeat, but all the same told Jenny her name and what pokemon was stolen. Gary and Mike did the same, and soon all they were left with were the descriptions. The boys described Marilu, and Kayla described Zephyr.

Jenny sighed. "Such young people. Well, if what you told me was true, I think I know who we're dealing with."

Gary blinked. "Who?"

Jenny stood up and walked over to the Rocket's file cabinet and placed the papers she had been scrawling on into it carefully. "There is only one kind of Team Rocket member that wears that kind of uniform. Those two must have belonged to one or two of the three Rocket families. Remember those three families I mentioned earlier?"

The three trainers nodded.

"Yes, well, those kinds of uniforms are only worn by them. They tend to be the evilest of the members, seeing as their whole family is tied into the organization. As children they are taught that pokemon are tools and objects that must be taught to be obedient and tortured into submission."

Kayla thought about the two Rockets she had seen. The whips they had, the way Marilu had threatened her Jolteon.

"I would not want to grow up in that family," said Mike, looking shocked.

"No you wouldn't," said Jenny, shaking her head, "And you're expected to follow in your parents' footsteps too."

"You're making it sound like you feel sorry for those two creeps!" yelled Gary, staring hard at Mike, "I don't care what family they grew up in; they're still low-life's to me!"

Mike rolled his eyes, "Look Gary, that's not what I meant! I hate them too, but I can at least understand why they act the way they do."

Gary grew quiet, and sat back down in his seat. Kayla thought silently to herself. What would it be like to grow up in a family of criminals? To be taught since day one to disrespect living things, and not to care about anyone's feelings? Horrible. It certainly seemed to work though; Marilu didn't seem to care about much besides herself; but what of Zephyr? Kayla remembered how he had acted to his Chikorita. It was very different from the way Marilu treated her Jolteon; he actually seemed to care about its well-being. Then she remembered how he had warned Marilu not to battle with Cubone, because her Jolteon would get hurt. Although, he could have just wanted to get out of their situation before one of their strongest fighters was down. Kayla shook her head.

She couldn't really tell if they were good or not, but she wasn't sure if she could think of them as devoid of anything good.

"You know," she suddenly found herself saying, "I'm sure that they can't be all bad."

Gary and Mike gaped at her.

"Whatever," snapped Gary, unconvinced, "You two and your bleeding hearts."

"Well geez Gary," said Mike, looking offended, "Maybe it's a little hard for us to believe that someone can truly be evil."

Jenny looked bored of this argument between them, and cleared her throat to get them to quiet down. "Listen up you three. I agree that those two teens probably have their redeeming aspects, but as far as the law's concerned, they're not too good to hang around. And don't go thinking that you can take the law into your own hands or anything; especially with those Rocket members. Kids in the past have tried to steal back their old pokemon, and most of them who have tried ended up with more than just their pokemon hurt."

And with that, she dismissed the three of them, and they were left to ponder how badly those kids that Jenny was talking about were hurt. Gary and Mike began to argue about how they would get their pokemon back from Marilu and Zephyr if they could. Kayla was busy trying to imagine what it would be like to be a pokemon like Jolteon and suddenly found herself thinking of Cubone again. He and Jolteon didn't seem so different when they were going head-to-head.

It was then that Kayla finally realized the connection.

Cubone and Jolteon were the same. She didn't understand all of it right then, nor did she realize how much she really didn't know yet; but she at least knew that Cubone, at one time, must've belonged to a Team Rocket member. She shook her head as she imagined a time when he would have been just as evil and twisted as that Jolteon…

Then she pondered the black light that the two pokemon emerged from; was that what Rocket pokemon do? But Zephyr's Chikorita came out with the typical white light; what was that about? Had he just not had Chikorita long enough to turn it evil? Kayla shook her head; this was all too confusing. She just wished that she could simply ask Cubone about it; but her 'ability' never seemed to work when she wanted it to.

The three trainers slowly parted ways without really knowing it. They were too tired to even care to say goodbye. Kayla closed her eyes as she neared the Pokemon Center. It was late in the night, or early in the morning, and all Kayla wanted to do was curl up in a warm bed without the worry of Team Rocket or stolen pokemon and go to sleep.

_A/N: Comments welcome as usual! Not much else to say here. Next time is Kayla's first attempt at a gym battle. More info on the red Butterfree. And hopefully it seems like an interesting battle to you all! Stay tuned!_


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